Interesting Facts

Petit Jean Mountain is alive with history and legend. Early maps from the 1820s indicate that the Petit Jean River may have originally been named the Petit John River, but later maps show the name as Petit Jean.

The mountain was home to cotton farms in the early 20th century, and many settlers experimented with orchards of apples and pears. One pear tree dating from the 1880s is still producing.

Petit Jean’s archeological past is marked by Native American pictographs in the state park. Evidence of corn grinding can be found on stones inside caves, such as the huge Rock House.

In the 1920s, the road from Oppelo was built by an improvement district. The construction was done using black powder explosions, with men trucking the dirt in by wheelbarrow.

By the 1930s, Petit Jean Mountain was tapped to become the first state park in Arkansas, begun with the gift of 80 acres from the Fort Smith Lumber company. Named after the legend of Petit Jean, construction began on the park in July 1933. Winthrop Rockefeller arrived at Petit Jean in 1953. At that time, much of the mountain lacked electricity, and the only paved road was Highway 154.