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It’s been drawing people since 1923
Petit Jean Mountain sits between the Ozarks and the Ouachitas in Conway County, Arkansas, and the state park on top of it started everything.
When Arkansas created Petit Jean State Park in 1923, it became the first state park in Arkansas and kicked off the whole system. You get more than 2,500 acres of forests, canyons, waterfalls, and rock art up here.
The park’s name comes from a French legend about a young woman who disguised herself as a cabin boy to follow her fiancé to the New World. She fell ill on this mountain and never left it.
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The CCC built structures here that still stand
From 1933 to 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps went to work on Petit Jean Mountain. They cut roads, raised buildings, laid stone bridges, and carved trails through the forest…