Walnut Ridge, Arkansas
Heading down 412 coming into Walnut Ridge, you can see one of the water towers has been painted to look like a hot air balloon. It seems to float just over the tree line. Once in town and since we were starving, we headed to a local dive called Pizza Den. But it isn't just a pizza joint, it is also home of homemade potato chips and they were awesome! I had a small salad that wasn't all that small. We ordered drinks, small plate of chips, small salad, small order of bread sticks, and was only out under $15.00 bucks plus tip.
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| Small Pizza Den Salad |
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| Small plate of homemade Chips |
After lunch we headed to the Amtrak Depot. Beside the depot is the guitar shaped sidewalk and a lot of music history from the town. One of the most interesting stories was how the Beatles came to Walnut Ridge. Apparently, their airplane was having some difficulties and the Walnut Ridge airport was the only one big enough around to handle the size of their plane. It was suppose to be a secret landing, but we know about secrets and small towns.
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| Downtown Art |
We will get to why such a small town has such a big airport later. The downtown area of Walnut Ridge has recently had a face lift with new businesses popping up. Mainly new cafes, but also some other ventures as well.There was a coffee house called The Dark Side that was neat. Close by was also a really cool art sculpture with the Beatles as the inspiration.
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| Beatles Sculpture |
Walnut Ridge is a great town for a stretch your legs kinda stop, or a day trip if you are a history buff. History is not in sort supply in this town. I mean before the Beatles made an unexpected stop, it was a WWII Army Air Field. That is why it had an airport big enough to assist the Beatles' plane.
Okay, so after we explored the downtown area we headed to the airport. It was a little hard to find, so I had to use google maps app. to navigate the way.
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| WWII Campaign Slogan |
While heading out of town, we got a better look at the water tower painted like a hot air balloon. We also spotted a lonely white gravestone off to the left as we drove down highway 34. It was a rainy day, so we opted not to get out and take a closer look. Plus there wasn't a pull off that was close to the gravestone. Story has it that the gravestone belongs to a man from the late 1800s that got killed by a train, his horse was killed too. Both were buried there.
We just kept trucking toward the airport. We found the Wings of Honor Museum. The entrance fee is by donation. It was small but filled with lots of cool information about Walnut Ridge's part in WWII.
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| Wings of Honor Museum |
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| WWII Jeep |
The museum has a little bit of everything from the war. The most interesting things were the airplane hanging over head and the guns from many of the countries involved in the war. It was all displayed well. The history of this army airfield was able to hold our attention for about a forty-five minute tour.
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| part of a plane |
After leaving the museum, we stumbled upon the Parachute Inn. It has an airplane that has been turned into a restaurant. Pretty neat! We didn't partake in any food because we were still full from our previous grub. It looked neat from the outside so maybe it is a hidden gem inside.
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| Parachute Inn |
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| Airplane themed restaurant |
As I finish up this entry, I have to say that I was happily surprised by Walnut Ridge's history. Here are some more interesting events that happen throughout the year in Walnut Ridge: Christmas lights in Stewart Park are a drive around style and last I heard were free. There is also a Beatles Festival in September.
Heading down 412 coming into Walnut Ridge, you can see one of the water towers has been painted to look like a hot air balloon. It seems to float just over the tree line. Once in town and since we were starving, we headed to a local dive called Pizza Den. But it isn't just a pizza joint, it is also home of homemade potato chips and they were awesome! I had a small salad that wasn't all that small. We ordered drinks, small plate of chips, small salad, small order of bread sticks, and was only out under $15.00 bucks plus tip. 
The museum has a little bit of everything from the war. The most interesting things were the airplane hanging over head and the guns from many of the countries involved in the war. It was all displayed well. The history of this army airfield was able to hold our attention for about a forty-five minute tour.
