Candle Making Workshop

August 13th, 2016 1-4pm

Candle Making Workshop

Candles were a vital part of frontier life and pioneers had to make their own with the materials they had on hand. Join the park interpreter to learn the history of candle making and make your own hand dipped and votive candles. Supplies will be provided and you can take home your candles. Must be 12 years or older. Space is limited and early registration is required. Call the park to sign up.

Admission: $15 per person

Davidsonville Historic State Park invites you to join us for any and all of the upcoming park events.

Artifacts and Archeology: Randolph County Historical Society Talk

Join Park Interpreter Geoffrey of Davidsonville Historic State Park and the staff of the Randolph County Heritage Museum for a talk about the artifacts found at Davidsonville. See two hundred year old pieces of history up close; learn how they were unearthed and what they help tell us about a town that predated reliable photography.

August 8th, 2016 6pm-7pm

Location: Randolph County Heritage Museum, Pocahontas AR

Admission: Free

Museume to Host Book Signing with Ed Bethune

Ed Bethune will launch the World War II story with a talk and book signing at the Randolph County Heritage Museum on Friday, July 22nd at 1:00 p.m.

The former 2nd District Congressman was born in Pocahontas, graduated from Pocahontas High School, practiced law and was deputy prosecuting attorney in Randolph County before becoming a special agent of the FBI.  While living in Pocahontas, his wife, Lana, taught English at Pocahontas High School.  He is the author of 3 books which are available at the museum:  Jackhammered, his memoir which includes the story of their rescue at sea in 1990; Gay Panic in the Ozarks, a legal thriller that has a photo of the Randolph County Courthouse on the cover. His new novel, A Pearl for Kizzy, has a fictional setting on the Black River.

As a long time member and supporter of the museum, Bethune will donate all proceeds from book sales to the Heritage Museum.

About A Pearl for Kizzy

49210703_High Resolution Front Cover_6302041Kizzy, a spirited child, lives with her family on a one-room ramshackle houseboat in Big Pearl, Arkansas. They fish, dig for mussels, look for pearls, and sell the shells to the button factory. It is a crude life made harder by the Great Depression, natural disasters, and prejudice.

At the onset of World War II, Kizzy befriends a young boy—a refugee from Nazi Germany—and a cultured young woman who encourages her to read and learn from Jane Austen’s books.

Kizzy yearns for a better life, but as she comes of age her dream of getting off the river is threatened by the evil Bully Bigshot and his Eugenics Center, a corrupt outfit that wants to rid the world of “river rats” like her through abortion and “better breeding.” … And there is Cormac, the lascivious man Kizzy calls her “make-do stepfather.”

Kizzy’s struggle mimics today’s culture war. Daring, but realistic, the novel examines love, pride, compassion, courage, hope, morality, and duty—the things that inform and shape our destiny.