Plantation Agriculture Museum

In preserving the state's rich heritage of plantation life and cotton agriculture, the Plantation Agriculture Museum offers visitors a glimpse of the past. Exhibits and programs interpret the period from Arkansas' admission to the Union in 1836, through World War II, when agricultural practices rapidly became mechanized. A rare gin (the only one known to exist in the continental United States) and a 500-pound cotton bale with traditional jute covering are exhibited in the museum's Plantation Agriculture section. This section interprets field preparation, planting and crop maintenance, as well as the cotton harvest from field to gin. Plows, fertilizers, planters, cultivators, poisoners and historic photo murals of the implements in use, surround a visitor-activated model of a plantation. This scale model gives museum guests an understanding of typical plantation layout and the relationship between fields and structures.