James A Villines Homestead, Buffalo National River near Ponca, Arkansas

10/31/2019 -  Jamee A. Villines homestead

GPS Coordinates:  (Latitude,  Longitude,  Elevation)
  Park:  36.02134, -93.35495
  Villines Homestead:  36.02230, -93.35302
  

Pet-Friendly:  Dogs are not allowed here.  This area is part of the Buffalo National River and is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.  Pets are not allowed on trails within the Buffalo National River (BNR), with the exception of the Mill Creek trail, Tyler Bend campground trails and the Buffalo Point campground trails.   You can take them on the river itself, and in campgrounds, on a leash, but not other areas of the BNR.  You can see the NPS policy here. 

Hiking Statistics:  This is an easy hike of only 1/3 mile for the entire loop trail.  You do go up on the hill above the old log cabin, but the lowest-to-highest elevation difference is still only 120 feet.  I took my time, and it took less than 16 minutes.  I would rate this an easy hike.

GPS files (.gpx format) - See maps at the bottom of this blog post

  Leatherwood Creek Waypoints
  Villines Homestead GPS track

Links to blog posts for other nearby areas:

  Balanced Rock Falls and Leatherwood Creek
  Triple Falls and Rock Creek Bridge Falls
  Whitaker Creek waterfalls - Compton's Double Falls, Amber Falls, Owl Falls
  

Villines Homestead Log House

After spending a few hours exploring Leatherwood Creek, I came out of the woods at the trailhead near the Ponca low water bridge.  Guess what else is there?  That's right, the trailhead for the historic Villines Homestead.  This is such a cool slice of history and is so easy to get to, it's practically a crime to not go check it out.  The James Villines family were early settlers in the Buffalo River area, and many descendants of the family still live in the immediate area.  They were an influential lot, having built the Boxley Grist Mill near where Mill Creek flows into the Buffalo River, a little upstream from this farmstead.  They built up the dam on the spring-fed mill pond by hand, to power the grist mill when Mill Creek was too low.  Three generations of the Villines family operated the mill for almost a century.  The NPS (National Park Service) gives tours of the old mill on weekends between April and October.  When the locals' dependence on mills to grind corn, wheat and other grains faded, the Villines family built fishing cabins on the site and helped kickstart the tourism industry in Boxley valley by hosting out of town fishermen on their mill pond.  As I said, an influential family in the valley.  This farmstead gives you a little glimpse into how they lived.

Park on this side of the low water bridge.
There is plenty of room!

Getting to the parking location is super easy; just go to the Ponca access on the Buffalo River, where the low water bridge is:  

• From Jasper, go north on Highway 74 to the junction of Highway 74 and Highway 43.  
• Just prior to the junction, Highway 74 has a bridge over the Buffalo River.  While on that bridge, if you look to your left, you will see a low water bridge over the buffalo.  That's where you will park.
• Turn left (west) on Highway 43, then in about 100 yards, turn onto the gravel road on the left. 
• The gravel road goes only 0.2 miles to the parking area on the Buffalo River.

OR from Boxley, go east toward the junction of these two highways.  The Buffalo River access road will be on the right 100 yards before the junction with Highway 74.  If you find yourself in Ponca or on the Highway 74 bridge over the Buffalo, you went too far.  

NOTE:  It is always good practice to park on the highway side of the low water bridge.  There is room on the other side for a couple of vehicles, but there are some other considerations.  There is a "No Parking" sign on the gate on the left that goes up to the Villines homestead.  More importantly, the Buffalo River can rise several feet in a very short time during rainy periods.  If you park over there and it rises over the low water bridge, your vehicle isn't going anywhere for a while.  Yes, people have been stranded there.  Don't be one of those people.  There is a vault toilet in this large parking area that looks like it may have been built back in the CCC or WPA eras but is kept fairly clean, as most facilities in the BNR are.

Once across the low water bridge, there is a gate with a trail going up the hill.  It is a loop trail, so when you get to a branch to the right, you can go either way around the loop.  I bear to the left, so you go up the hill a bit more and come out on the main structure in the farmstead, the log cabin where James A. "Beaver Jim" Villines lived with his family.  The story has it that he lived his whole life within a mile of where he was born.  I find that hard to believe, but I can easily believe he didn't stray more than walking distance from this farmstead.  He was born and raised in Boxley in 1854, and in 1882 he married Sarah Arbaugh and moved across the Buffalo River to this farmstead.  He got his "Beaver Jim" nickname from his legendary skills as a trapper.  He lived here with his family until his death in 1948, a considerable lifespan for that era.  I think if I had a place at the juncture of the Buffalo River and Leatherwood Creek, I probably wouldn't be wanting to move either.

The National Park Service (NPS) now maintains the historic structures here and has some posting to the effect that you can look all you want, but you can't go inside.  I'm assuming the floors or something else aren't quite that stable and this is a way to preserve it and prevent injuries.  You can go inside some of the other old structures in the Buffalo National River, such as the Parker-Hickman Homestead.  The NPS has put up informational placards to describe the various buildings.  As you wander from one building to another around the short loop trail, it is a fascinating insight to the way folks lived 'back in the day'.  Before you know it, you are back around the loop and at the low water bridge. 


I took my time, taking photos and checking out various locations for possibly doing some Milky Way photos here (I don't think that's going to work), and it still only took me just a little over 15 minutes to walk around the loop.  I never did get the 'big camera' out of my pack, these photos are all cell phone pictures.  This is a short, easy hike with a little history lesson kicked in.  It is highly recommended for all.

GPS track for the Villines Homestead loop trail (black)