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| Natural Bridge Tourist Camp on Crooked Creek |
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| Question: An old postcard for bidding on eBay shows Natural Bridge Tourist Camp in Harrison, Arkansas. Do you have information on this camp? |
| Answer: The Henry Taylor family owned and operated the Natural Bridge Tourist Camp along Crooked Creek just north of the present Goblin football field. The postcard picture accompanying this article shows the camp, and written on the back was the following note from Pearl Taylor to her brother: "Here is a picture of our cabins. Our house wasn't taken in. The lake you see is where the spring was. He made a lake and has fish in it. Hope you are well. Come down and see us this summer. Pearl." |
| Have you ever wondered what the cement block on the hill above Crooked Creek was doing there? Well, the Taylors made a swimming beach and diving area along the creek. The diving area was off the bluff with a long diving board extending out over the deep water. At that time, the creek was much larger and deeper. Sometimes the boys would pour gasoline on the water, light it, and dive through it - much to the delight of crowds that would come to watch. |
| Crump Taylor thought Joe and Ray Miller helped build the forms, with Fred Wilson helping carry cement across the creek - busy boys working on a swimming hole. |
| In 1994, Robert Hammerschmidt interviewed Crump Taylor, and this interview was published in the October-December 1994 issue of the Boone County Historian. Entitled "Harrison Popular New Swimming Beach," he relates the story of the 1926 swimming beach so popular with Harrison youth. This continued until Waymon Taylor, father of Crump, built a swimming pool where an admission was charged. |
| Waymon also owned the Jersey Roller Mill, along with ownership of the Natural Bridge Tourist Camp. Crump's uncle, Mark McAllister, bought the Jersey Roller Mill from the Czech family, and he took Waymon in as his partner. One night as Waymon and Mark were seining on the creek, Mark died in a drowning accident, leaving Waymon as sole owner of the business. |
| The milling business gradually faded, and that is when Crump talked his father into building a swimming pool. There wasn't a lot of cement forming the pool, and cracks had to be filled often, but Crump enjoyed the responsibility of that job. |
| The swimming beach was a good place for kids to hang out in the summer. You could dive from the top board and never hit bottom, and the water next to the bluff was very deep and clean - so unlike Crooked Creek today. Mill Pond remained a popular swimming hole for many years, even though the Natural Bridge Tourist Camp no longer existed. |
| It is hard to imagine this area in Harrison's earlier days, but this part of history is preserved in pictures and stories on file at the Boone County Heritage Museum, located on the corner of South Cherry Street and Central Avenue. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Come share the history of Boone County and its people. |
| This column appears Fridays in the Harrison Daily Times. Mail questions to Boone County Heritage Museum, P. O. Box 1094, Harrison, AR 72601. Marilyn Smith can be contacted at bchm@windstream.net |
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