Ft. Smith--Ft. Towson Military Road

The ridge this road climbed is the Winding Stair, lying in the frontal belt north of the Ouachita Mountains and running east to west from Big Cedar to just north of Talihina, with peaks reaching 2,400 feet, among the highest in the Ouachita region. Shortleaf and loblolly pine, southern red oak, white oak and flowering dogwood cover it. The Wichita held this country when Europeans arrived, and it lay within the Choctaw Nation after removal in 1831-34. President Reagan designated the 26,445-acre Winding Stair National Recreation Area in 1988.

What the plaque says

Ft. Smith--Ft. Towson Military Road This road extended through the Choctaw Nation over 130 miles of rugged terrain and raging streams. It was blazed by Col. Robert Bean and constructed by Captain John Stuart and used to carry supplies and move troops and emigrants through the region. The route crossed the Winding Stair Mtn. at this point.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tvshkahomma Capitol Museum — 22 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's 1884 brick capitol in the Kiamichi valley, seat of its senate, house and supreme court until statehood, now the Nation's museum and the ground of its Labor Day Festival.
• Robbers Cave State Park — 27 mi
  A sandstone cave in the Sans Bois Mountains north of Wilburton, wrapped in outlaw stories, and the park that Boy Scouts, prison labor and the CCC built around it.

More markers nearby

• Holloway's Station — 14 mi
• Riddle's Station — 20 mi
• John F. Kennedy Memorial — 20 mi
• The Choctaw Nation Capitol Building — 22 mi