Alt Text

Map of Fort Smith National Historic Site in Arkansas. The Arkansas River takes up the left third of the map or so. The historic site is represented in green and surrounding areas in beige.

Extended Description

The Fort Smith National Historic Site is divided into two main areas: First Fort Smith and a green expanse to the left and the much larger Second Fort Smith to the right. This description will begin with the Second Fort Smith and then move to the first. Next will be the surrounding streets and sites, and then a full transcription of the legend.

Second Fort Smith

The second Fort Smith is shaped like a goblet bowl with angled sides leading from a point to straight sides, which are then spanned by the widest side. That widest side is oriented to the northwest in this map.

The Visitor Center Barracks-Courthouse-Jail, Gallows, Flagpole, Guardhouse, Cistern, Garden, and Officers’ Quarters are within the fort. Immediately around it are a Commissary at the northern point, and the Frisco Station, Parking, and Ross Pendergraft Park are between noon and three o’clock. More parking along with the Parking area entrance are south of the fort, and a Gazebo, Quartermaster Storehouse, and Initial Point Marker are just outside the fort along the left side.

The perimeter of the fort as well as Officers’ Quarters, Guardhouse, Garden, and Quartermaster Storehouse are represented in brown. The rest is represented in black.

First Fort Smith

The diamond-shaped first Fort Smith is about an eighth the size of the second. A flagpole is at its center and a Gazebo and Trail of Tears Overlook are nearby. The River Trail winds through and around both forts and connects with Garrison Avenue to the north.

The footprint of the fort is outlined in brown. The Flagpole, Gazebo, and overlook are black.

Surrounding Areas

Interstate 64, also labeled Garrison Avenue, crosses the Arkansas River and runs diagonally to cut across the top right quadrant of the map. Fort Smith Riverfront Park is just north of Garrison Avenue, and Miss Laura’s Visitor Center is tucked into a bend of Riverfront Drive above this.

The Fort Smith Museum of History is at the intersection of 4th Street and Rogers Avenue, less than one block east of the second fort. 3rd Street leads to the Parking area entrance of the park, and 4th and 5th Streets parallel it to the east. Cross streets here are Parker and Garland avenues. The Fort Smith National Cemetery with Judge Parker’s Grave is in the southeast corner of the map.

Railroad tracks enter the map at the bottom center and curve gently up and to the right through the park and off the top right corner of the map. A trolley trail connects Ross Pendergraft Park with the Fort Smith Trolley Museum, which is between Garland Avenue and the cemetery. The trolley line then continues off the map near the bottom right corner.

The Poteau River branches off of the Arkansas River to the left of the railroad tracks. The Arkansas and Oklahoma state line follows the course of the Poteau and then Arkansas rivers.

Legend

A legend in the lower left corner reads as follows:

Brown shape for Historic building or structure site,

Black shape for existing building or structure,

Green for Park area, and

Yellow dashed line for Trolley route.

Bold black text below reads, “The park area is shown in green on the map, but it includes some private property. Please respect these owners’ rights.”

Red text that follows reads, “Use caution when crossing railroad and trolley tracks. These are active lines.”

A scale below measures distances of 0.1 and 0.2 kilometers and 0.1 and 0.2 miles.