Pocahontas retains its historic downtown business square and beautifully restored 1872 Victorian Italianate courthouse. Most of the commercial outlets facing the square have been renovated to complement the stately courthouse.

Rich history echo’s across Randolph County with sites such As the Rice-Upshaw House and the William Looney Tavern located in Dalton for those interested in uncovering days gone by.

The Rice-Upshaw House was initially constructed in 1828 and used possibly as a one-story store/loom house by the builder Reuben Rice. Reuben established a rural trading center soon after the Rice family arrived in the Eleven Point River Valley in 1812.  The structure features an original log partition wall, a rarity in vernacular architecture. A restored 1820s log granary survives from the well-documented trading center days adding to the site’s significance. The house is restored to the 1840s era when Reuben’s son expanded the main structure to serve as a family dwelling house. It was donated to BRTC by Rice descendants, Dorothy Jean Upshaw, and her children.

One of Arkansas’s and the regions’ most finely crafted log structures, the 1833 white oak log dogtrot constructed by William Looney is considered to have functioned as a rural tavern as well serving Looney’s distilling industry. He produced apple brandy in a day when distilling was a common practice for preserving fruits or grain.  In the post-Civil War period the structure was converted to a dwelling by the Downey family.  For more than a century it was known as the Downey Place. It was donated to BRTC by Jack and Christina French, descendants of the valley’s pioneering families.

Randolph County is the only county in Arkansas to claim five rivers and one lake and water sports factor heavily in the recreational opportunities available to residents and visitors. The Black River, the local river on which the town grew up, presents anglers with excellent big-bass fishing. The Current River’s strength is canoeing, although bass, bream and crappie fishing is consistently productive for fishermen. With 23 miles of navigable stream between Mammoth Spring and Hardy, the Spring River is the state’s most reliable paddling stream. Its waters run cold and swift the entire year. Excellent fishing is also available in the Fourche River which empties into the Black River about 500 yards east of the city. The Eleven Point River’s small-mouth bass fishing and good duck hunting extend along the river’s 40 miles of floatable waters.

To learn more about Pocahontas and Randolph County visit www.seerandolphcounty.comand for more area information visit www.ozarkgateway.com.