On our way from Little Rock, AR to St Louis, MO, we stopped for lunch in Walnut Ridge. It was a good halfway point for the drive, but the primary reason was because Shae had seen that an interesting roadside attraction was there – Guitar Walk. As it turned out, Walnut Ridge actually had two music-related attractions.
Guitar Walk
Guitar Walk can be found in Cavenaugh Park and is along Highway 67 running through Walnut Ridge. In 2009, the state legislature passed Act 497 which designated the highway as “Rock N’ Roll Highway 67” in honor of its music history.
Rock N’ Roll Highway 67 runs from Bald Knob (about an hour northeast of Little Rock) up to Corning in the northeast part of the state. Along that ~100 mile stretch of highway were the towns and cities of Newport, Swifton, Walnut Ridge, Hoxie and Pocahontas, with many big name rock n’ roll and rockabilly stars playing in venues along the way.
Guitar Walk features information boards about many of those music artists including Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash and many more.
Each of the information boards has a speaker. In addition to all the information on the boards, there’s a button on each one that plays audio through the speaker with stories about the artist and some of their music.
Guitar Walk itself has a fun design as it’s in the shape of an Epiphone Casino – a legendary guitar design from the rock n’ roll era.
There’s even an information board sharing why they picked it for the design.
Beatles Park
Guitar Walk isn’t the only music-related feature in Walnut Ridge. Just a couple of blocks away – on the appropriately named Abbey Road – is Beatles Park.
This small area is dedicated to perhaps the most popular rock n’ roll band of all time – The Beatles. It might seem strange that Walnut Ridge features them considering they never played on the Rock N’ Roll Highway, but there’s a reason for the connection between the two.
A board in Beatles Park explains the history:
A quiet night in 1964 was interrupted by the unusual sound of an airliner approaching Walnut Ridge Airport. Its arrival sparked enough interest that three local teens went to investigate, only to discover John, Paul, Ringo and George walking from the plane. The Beatles, the biggest rock band in the world, had arrived at Walnut Ridge.
After performing in Dallas on that Friday evening, September 18th, the Beatles were headed to a weekend vacation at Pigman Ranch, a dude ranch near Alton, MO. The ranch was owned by Reed Pigman Sr, who operated the charter airline on which they flew.
Walnut Ridge had the closest airport that could accommodate such a large plane, so plans were for the group to land there secretly and then depart the following Sunday, also secretly. But the secret didn’t last.
Word spread quickly around the town, especially among teens who, like the rest of the country, were in the throes of Beatle-mania. A crowd of several hundred was gathered at the airport by Sunday morning, September 20th, to greet the Beatles. Sure enough, they arrived, John and Ringo in a small plane and Paul and George in a GMC Suburban from Pigman Ranch.
There were a few hands shaken and autographs given as the Fab Four walked through the Walnut Ridge crowd, and then the Beatles settled into their seats for the flight to New York City, where they would conclude their first American tour.
The stopover in Walnut Ridge was but a footnote in the history of the legendary band, but it was much more than that for the community that had a surprise encounter with the one and only Beatles. Lasting memories were made in that brief visit. Photographs, treasured stories, and this sculpture are among the ways we remember a very exciting day, and pay tribute to a truly great band.
There’s some intricately designed metal artwork behind the recreation of the Abbey Road album cover in Beatles Park.
That artwork contains all kinds of references to Beatles songs that you have to look much closer to be able to find.
Beatles Park also features a board dedicated to Washboard Sam, a popular music artist in the 30s and 40s who’s thought to have been born in Walnut Ridge.
Along both sides of the one-block Abbey Road there’s lots more Beatles artwork to be seen:
Walnut Ridge with Guitar Walk and Beatles Park was a great little stop about halfway between Little Rock and St Louis, so they’re worth a quick visit if you find yourself driving along Rock N’ Roll Highway 67 in Arkansas. If you do plan to stop there, here are links to their locations on Google Maps so that you can get directions:
- Guitar Walk
- Beatles Park
- Walnut Ridge City Park (we stopped here with our packed lunch afterwards)
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