Future Lies In Protecting Past
New Benton County Commission To Protect Historical Sites
Last updated Monday, February 6, 2006 10:13 PM CST in News
By Joseph Askins
The Morning News
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BENTONVILLE -- Rick Parker believes Benton County's future lies in the protection of its rich history, and he's eager to work with a new commission to educate residents about the county's past.
The Gentry resident is chairman and founding member of the county's new Historic Preservation Commission, a group created to identify, protect and promote historical sites throughout Benton County.
County Judge Gary Black appointed Parker, Troy Banzhaf of Bella Vista, Michael Evans of Siloam Springs, Monte Harris of Bentonville and Richard Marshall of Garfield to the commission in late January.
Several Arkansas counties created historical commissions to promote the state's sesquicentennial in 1986, and private historical and genealogical societies are active in Washington and Benton counties. But Benton County is the first to have a permanent historical commission, said Russell Baker of the Arkansas History Commission.
"This is definitely a clean slate," Parker said. "We really don't have any ground rules, so we have to start from scratch."
The group can establish historical districts, accept donations and purchase property on behalf of the county, but Parker said he'd rather see commissioners focus first on identifying and documenting important locations in the county's history.
The county has as many as 80 Civil War locations, including the sites of small skirmishes and campgrounds that have never been officially recognized or placed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Parker. Significant sites from the Trail of Tears remain unmarked and unprotected as well, and archaeologists continue to discover remnants of Native American settlements throughout Northwest Arkansas.
"These sites should at least be known to the public, because in one fell swoop a backhoe could eliminate them in a matter of seconds," Parker said.
Documentation on the Historic Register alone cannot prevent property owners from developing land that includes a historic site. Harris, an adult education assistant for the Rogers Historical Museum, said she looks forward to creating a public awareness and an education program to promote the commission's activities.
"If people don't understand a place's importance, we can't expect them to preserve it, and, if they don't know that history, they can't make good decisions for their future," Harris said.
Historians have sometimes avoided publicizing a newly discovered historic site for fear of looting, but those sites may face greater risks if the public doesn't know about their existence, said John McLarty, transportation planner for the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
McLarty said the commission's work could benefit government agencies such as the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, which analyzes an area's historical and cultural resources when planning new highway routes.
"The time to keep these places hidden is gone," McLarty said. "You can stay quiet about a site in hopes that no one disturbs it; but, if a shopping center or road is built right on top of it, it doesn't do much good to say, 'Well, at least those artifacts weren't stolen.'"
Parker and McLarty both helped to develop the Northwest Arkansas Heritage Trail Plan to connect the Trail of Tears, the Butterfield stagecoach trail and Civil War sites to city trails and bicycle-friendly roads in Benton and Washington counties. More identified sites mean more routes for the Heritage Trail, and McLarty believes that can translate into more tourism for all of Northwest Arkansas.
"People will stay in a place longer if there's a little historic intrigue," McLarty said. "The more places we can direct them to, the better chance there is of them staying for a while, and that surely has an economic benefit."
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bob wrote on Nov 8, 2006 4:14 PM: