Appendix Passage, Campsites, The Nines. AR: Queen Wilhelmina SP. A Wayƒarer′s Campsites (CRS)

The Journal

The Wayƒarers

The Selƒ

The Journey

The Burden

The Mountain

   The Ancients
   The Earth
   The Life
   The Modern Man

     Architecture
     Boats
     Bridges
     Campsites

       CRS
       Index by Rating
       Index by State

     Forts
     Grand Lodges
     Lighthouses
     Piers

   The Nonpareils
   The Steps
   The Way

The Appendix

The NINES

The Queen Wilhelmina State Park, Arkansas

The Campsite

The Lodge History

The original "Castle in the Sky" lodge was built in 1898 on 2,681-foot Rich Mountain, in Polk County, Arkansas. The park is on Talimena Scenic Byway — northwest of Mena, Arkansas and east of the Oklahoma state line. It is the only lodge open on the 235 mile Ouachita Trail. It is also the top state park on the Talihena Parkway. It is located on Arkansas second highest peak, Rich Mountain.

The original lodge was built by the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf Railroad to house passengers. Many of the railroad's investors were Dutch, so the lodge was named to honor Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who was to be crowned in September 1898. Grand opening of the Victorian lodge was June 22, 1898. Wilhelmina Inn was soon nicknamed the "Castle in the Sky."

The KCPG railroad faced financial problems, and was sold to what later became the Kansas City Southern Railroad. The original inn fell into disrepair, and permanently closed in 1910.

When interest in tourism rose after World War II, the state created Queen Wilhelmina State Park in 1957 and a new lodge was built, using some of the original rock work and opened June 22, 1963. The lodge then operated for 10 years, until a Nov. 10, 1973 kitchen fire spread and destroyed the lodge.

Construction soon began on the third lodge at the same site, this new once costing three million dollars and opening in 1975 but in time needed to be refurbished after which lodge reopened again in 2015.

The Location

Coordinates: 34.68450, -94.36900

The Amenities

The Castle in the Sky

The lodge has 40 guest rooms including Queen, King, King with spa tub and gas fireplace, and King Suite, from $95-165.

Also available is a full service restaurant, large lobby with a view and a meeting room.

The Talimena

The Talimena Scenic Byway is a 54.0-mile (86.9 km) National Scenic Byway in southeastern Oklahoma and extreme western Arkansas connecting Talihina, Oklahoma with Mena, Arkansas by a mountain top route. The current route opened in 1969 and formed a stretch of what would become Oklahoma State Highway 1, being designated highway number 1 due to the scenery along the highway.

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Designated a National Scenic Byway in 2005, this road travels within the Ouachita National Forest (pronounced Wash-i-tah) along the highest peaks of the Winding Stair Mountains, which is part of the Ouachita Mountain chain and includes the second tallest peak in Arkansas, Rich Mountain at 2,681 feet (817 m) in elevation. Many of the old growth forests along these ridges are dwarfed, making the trees of little commercial value and thus were never logged.

The Talimena is a two-lane road with twenty-two scenic vista pull-outs and at times has up to a thirteen percent (13%) hill grades along the route. Too, there are access to several hiking trails at various locations along the Talimena.