History of Mount Nebo State Park

Mount Nebo State Park

Mount Nebo State Park, Arkansas’s second oldest state park, encompasses more than 3,000 acres on Mount Nebo, a flat-topped plateau that rises 1,350 feet above the Arkansas River valley of west-central Arkansas. Roughly 100 acres of the park are on the tabletop portion of the mountain, the main destination of tourists visiting the area.

Mount Nebo is part of the Ouachita Mountain range formed millions of years ago when the South American tectonic plate collided with the North American plate. This collision caused folding and uplift of the land that became the Ouachita Mountains of today. Over the millions of years since the collision, wind, water, and erosion have molded the mountain to its current shape.

The mountain, which was a prominent landmark for early navigation on the Arkansas River, got its name sometime after the Civil War.  Louis C. White of Dardanelle (Yell County) owned land around the springs on the Bench Trail, and according to local folklore, his wife named the mountain after the biblical Mount Nebo, from which Moses saw the Promised Land. Inhabited by white settlers since pre–Civil War years, the city of Mount Nebo was first laid out with streets and lots in the late 1800s.

The mountain became a popular resort in 1889 when the Summit Park Hotel was established on the mountaintop. It was a popular destination for the upper class nationwide, many traveling by steamboat on the Arkansas River to visit the mountain. At one point, the mountain was home to two hotels and up to 5,000 people who lived on the mountaintop as summer residents. Today, approximately fifty private residences are used full time or seasonally on top of the mountain, and many of the owners are descendants of families who lived on Mount Nebo from the late 1800s.

In 1918, Mount Nebo’s widely known reputation as a popular summer destination abruptly ended when the Summit Park Hotel caught fire and burned to the ground. Costs incurred by recent remodeling had left the hotel with no money for insurance. It was never rebuilt.

After the destruction of the hotel, the town of Mount Nebo remained. City amenities included gazebos, boardwalks, a post office, a doctor’s office, a bowling alley, and a local telephone exchange. Residences were owned mostly by local families of Dardanelle. Some were used year round, but as time went by, the popularity of the mountain decreased.

In 1924, Mount Nebo became the first town on record in Arkansas to have an all-female government. At that time, the women’s rights movement had just struck. Empowered, the women of Mount Nebo saw many changes needed in the town that the male city council members were not enacting. At reelection time, the women ran for office, in some cases against their husbands, brothers, and fathers. A female mayor and a female city council were elected in April 1924. During their time in office, the women made many improvements, but their efforts were not enough to bring more people to the mountaintop.

In 1926, in efforts to re-popularize the mountain, the Dardanelle Chamber of Commerce proposed to make Mount Nebo a state park. Many of the delegates attending the Sixth National Conference of State Parks that year were summer residents of Mount Nebo and in favor of the idea. The first step in instituting the state park was for the State Park Commission to acquire the land. A call for donations of land was made, and in 1928, a deed of 500 acres owned by the state due to delinquent taxes was handed over to the commission. In addition, the state negotiated for 800 acres close to the base of the mountain, which were owned by the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. After 1929, and through the Great Depression, even more land was acquired due to delinquent taxes. Mount Nebo State Park became Arkansas’s second state park in 1928. Private ownership of land within the park boundaries remains today, making Mount Nebo unique among the Arkansas state parks.

Victorian-style architecture was typical to the park until the 1930s, when logs and stones from the mountain were used by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to construct most of the trails, cabins, bridges, and a large pavilion. These CCC structures were turned over to the state park system when the CCC disbanded from Mount Nebo in 1935.

Today, park facilities include a visitor center, rental cabins, a campground with twenty-four campsites and bathhouse, ten primitive hike-in campsites, picnic sites, a large group pavilion, a standard group pavilion, an amphitheater, a swimming pool, playgrounds, tennis courts, and a ball field. The park has fourteen miles of hiking trails, and the mountain’s bluffs and steep slopes also make it a popular destination for hang-gliding enthusiasts. Hayrides are given on the mountaintop roads, as well as on the Bench Trail, which circles the mountain below the bluffs and affords views not only of the park’s plant and animal life, but also remnants of homes from the 1800s. Sunrise and Sunset points are popular places for sightseers and photographers.

Seasonal interpretive programs take place from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Many of the special events planned by the park staff carry on the tradition of what has historically taken place on the mountain—dances, a Victorian Christmas open house, an Easter sunrise service, and ice cream socials. The most popular events are the Mount Nebo Chicken Fry, usually in September, and the spring and summer hang-gliding fly-ins, usually in April and August.

Did you know Mount Nebo is one of the three flat-topped mountains in the Arkansas River Valley that are homes to Arkansas state parks? You can see the other two mountains--Petit Jean and Mount Magazine-- from Mount Nebo.

Rising 1,350 feet above the mountain valleys of west central Arkansas, majestic Mount Nebo offers visitors spectacular views of 34,000-acre Lake Dardanelle, the Arkansas River and the surrounding mountain ridges. Named after the biblical Mount Nebo, the flat-topped mountain is fringed by the Ozark National Forest and is home to Mount Nebo State Park.

Mount Nebo has been inhabited since pre-Civil War years and has a long history as a favorite vacation destination in Arkansas. During the 1890s, a resort hotel named the Summit Park Hotel was built to house steamboat passengers on the Arkansas River. These summertime visitors, like today’s park visitors, enjoyed the mountain's cooler temperatures, lush vegetation, abundant wildlife and breathtaking scenery.

In 1928, Mount Nebo was designated as a state park, Arkansas’s second state park following Petit Jean. During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the majority of the trails, bridges, cabins and pavilions in the park. Numerous private residences share the top of the mountain with the state park.

The approach to the summit of Mount Nebo is breathtaking, too. State Hwy. 155 zigzags up the eastern side of the mountain. From base to top there are a series of tight hairpin turns. Trailers or RV's over 24 ft. long should not attempt the climb.

One of Mount Nebo State Park’s' finest attractions is its unique trail system. Seven trails provide more than l4 miles of hiking pleasure. Some of the trails built by the CCC follow the natural "Bench" around the mountain. Other trails lead to the park's fascinating historical and natural features.