New CD Available for Driving Tour
Of Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
*****
By Jill M. Rohrbach, travel writer
Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

Technology is giving the past renewed life at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park in Prairie Grove. A new compact disc, providing the sounds of battle and narration of events, brings the history of the park to a more vibrant level for visitors taking the park's battlefield driving tour.

The 55-minute compact disc leads visitors through the 14 stops along the five-mile tour. It contains a narrator, providing a description of events, and directions to each stop, which are also marked by signs. Other voices, reading material from historical papers such as letters, represent soldiers or settlers that lived through the battle. On the compact disc, a soldier cries out for his mother, and a mother shrieks for her husband and brothers found dead on the battlefield. A young woman describes hiding in a storm cellar during the skirmish and soldiers describe how bullets filled the air like hail during the fierce fighting throughout the valley, ridges and fields.

"The Battle of Prairie Grove can best be told by the people that were here and really experienced it," Park Superintendent Ed Smith said. The script was written by park interpreter and historian Don Montgomery and produced by James Spencer of Active Voicing.

"It's going to make an emotional connection with people instead of just a cold generic look at a battlefield," Smith said. "It really brings it to life."

The compact disc also contains sounds from a past battle reenactment at the park. The Battle of Prairie Grove is reenacted on even numbered years only. Comprised of more than 1,000 actors in authentic attire, this year it is set for 1 p.m. on Dec. 4 and 5, and is free except for the $3 parking fee.

The Prairie Grove Park Auxiliary financed the compact disc, which can be purchased for $4 at the park visitor center.

"We do have CD players that we let people borrow if they don't have one for their car," Smith added.

Music plays as visitors drive from one tour stop to the next, and includes the song "Prairie Grove," performed by Cathy Barton, Dave Para, Bob Dyer and Judy Domeni from the album "Johnny Whistletrigger: Civil War Songs from the Western Border."

While the music between stops is set to match the average length of time it takes to drive between each stop, the compact disc can easily be stopped if visitors want to pause longer in any location. Each track on the compact disc corresponds to a tour stop; thus, tour-goers can select tracks as they need.

New signs for the tour have been developed and installed through funding from The Friends of Prairie Grove Battlefield. In the past, the tour was made by reading a brochure and following the enclosed map and park tour signs, which were somewhat inconspicuous.

"A lot of people would get lost and wouldn’t finish the tour," Smith explained. Now, the narrator serves as a personal navigator and the new, brighter, hand-carved signs are more visible, making the tour easy to follow. The back of the compact disc case also contains a map.

"This whole thing is just a nice souvenir," Smith said, adding that it would make a nice Christmas gift for Civil War history buffs. The jewel case cover is "...The Bayonet or Retreat" painting by artist Andy Thomas.

Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park contains 838 acres and is recognized nationally as one of America's most intact Civil War battlefields. The park protects the battle site and interprets the Battle of Prairie Grove, where on December 7, 1862, the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi clashed with the Union Army of the Frontier resulting in about 2,700 casualties in a day of fierce fighting.

This year the park won the state park system's Interpretive Program of the Year award for its interpretive services, which include the new compact disc audio tour, school tours, Global Positioning System (GPS) tour, and special events.

Prairie Grove State Park contains a one-mile walking trail with wayside exhibits, and an Ozark Pioneer Village, which represents life in the Ozarks during that era. Other amenities include a playground, museum, audio-visual programs, diorama, gift shop and bookstore.

The park closes at dark and the visitor center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Today, the park is a beautiful and serene setting, a stark contrast to the events that took place there. It is located on U.S. 62 in Prairie Grove. For more information, visit arkansasstateparks.com or call (479) 846-2990.