Arkansas’ Great Southwest Regional Tourism Association Meets at Washington

Arkansas’ Great Southwest Regional Tourism Association met Tuesday (5-13) at Historic Washington State Park.  There are 12 regional tourism associations in the state.  They work with events in the counties and Arkansas Parks & Tourism to administer the regional matching grants program.  AGSW encompasses Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller, Nevada, and Sevier County.

The business meeting was held in the 1874 Courthouse.  Retired Historic Washington historian Billy Nations gave the group a short program on the historic courthouse.  He detailed how it served as the county courthouse for 66 years and then became a school after Hope became the county seat.  The state park received the courthouse in the 1970’s and work was done to restore it to how it looked in the 19th century.  Following the meeting, the attendees were transported to Williams Tavern for lunch via the park’s horse-drawn surrey.

For more about Arkansas’ Great Southwest visit agsw.org.