Parker Homestead Festival

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Parker Homestead Festival

Parker Homestead is a recreated 19th century town six miles south of Harrisburg, Arkansas. A vast collection of buildings and artifacts from times past – each cabin was selected and moved log by log to their present home in Whitehall. It has been built and cared for by four generations of Parkers and they continue to add to it every year. During their yearly Homestead Festival, they have demonstrations on pioneer broom making, sorghum cooking and print typesetting - just to name a few. During the Festival you will see how folks lived in the olden' days, how they dressed and you can even taste old fashioned delicacies like homemade kettle corn while you visit with folks and enjoy a little guitar pickin'.

An example of some of the sites you will see is the Broom Shop. The logs used to construct the original broom shop were saved from the home of Phil Parker's Great- Great-Grandfather, Moses Pitts. Pitts was the last surviving Confederate soldier in Cross County and built this home when he returned from the Civil War in the 1860's.

Although the house was torn down in the 1930's, one wall of logs were salvaged and stored in a barn until the Parkers used them to construct the open faced Broom House. Here you'll see brooms made by the Parkers on an antique broom-making machine patented in 1878.

One of the favorites is the Homestead Barn. It was constructed from round logs which used to be the old American Legion Hut in Trumann, AR. It is packed full of old hit n' miss engines, equipment, and tools - looking as though a farmer simply walked away one day and left everything as it was.

These days it serves as a backdrop for weddings, class reunions, and birthday parties. During the Haunted Homestead at Halloween it is decorated for the kids of all ages with webs and spooks. It is really something to see!

This is Parkers’ Bridge. It takes you across the creek and to the historic dirt road that was once the major route into Whitehall. The road meanders along the creek and is a branch off Old Military Road, which runs along Crowley's Ridge. The bridge was constructed with bridge timbers salvages from a replaced WPA era bridge– originally milled and constructed in the 30s!

Local lore has it that the Old Military Road was the main supply line for both the North and the South during the Civil War. It was also one of the routes during the Trail of Tears.

THERE ARE MANY MORE THINGS TO SEE AND DO AT THE HOMESTEAD! Of course the main draw is the fall festival but they also host: school trips, church services, weddings, class reunions, wine tasting and more.

Visit the Parker Homestead website at www.parkerhomestead.com to go on a virtual tour and learn more about the Homestead and it's events.

The 2019 Festival has been scheduled for two weekends in October:
October 12th-13th and October 19th-20th, Admission is $7

We are fortunate to have such a great piece of history right here in Poinsett County and thankful to the Parkers for all the hard work they do.