Helena, Arkansas

Twain's compliment is on the sign, but the river town he steamed past had a rougher side. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Helena, a steamboat stopover between Memphis and Vicksburg, attracted thieves, gamblers and outlaws, and that in 1835 citizens formed an anti-gambling society to push out some of the worst of them. Captains restocked their fuel bunkers there from cottonwood cut by local wood choppers. By the mid-1850s the town had three newspapers, six private schools, at least a dozen churches and a temperance society, and the edges of the old river-town reputation had softened.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Elaine Massacre Memorial — steps away
  A memorial dedicated in 2019 in Helena for the Black people killed by white mobs and troops in the 1919 Elaine Massacre, the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history.
• Delta Cultural Center — 0.4 mi
  A state museum in downtown Helena where King Biscuit Time, the longest-running daily blues radio show, is broadcast live from the Visitors Center.
• Freedom Park — 1.2 mi
  An outdoor Delta Cultural Center site on the ground of a Civil War contraband camp, where thousands of people who had escaped slavery sheltered and men enlisted.
• Mississippi River State Park — 11 mi
  A state park and gateway to the St. Francis National Forest, where the river, Crowley's Ridge and the Delta meet, with a Trail of Tears site at the Mississippi and St. Francis confluence.

More markers nearby

• Phillips County, Arkansas — steps away
• Phillips County Court House — steps away
• Seven Confederate Generals — steps away
• Judge Jacob Trieber — steps away