Sugar Creek Vista and Buckeye Overlooks

Sugar Creek Vista and Buckeye Vista overlooks, both located on Forest Service Road 38 in Polk County, provide roadside pull-offs that offer spectacular views of the rugged surrounding landscapes. Built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 742 in 1935, the overlooks were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 2007.

The Sugar Creek Vista Overlook is an eighty-four-foot-long, fourteen-foot-tall stone wall topped with eighteen to twenty-three inches of rubblestone. It is built from quarried novaculite and sandstone rocks that are set with grapevine mortar. The overlook is located on the western side of the road and offers a scenic view of a valley that adjoins Dicks Gap.

The Buckeye Vista Overlook is a seventy-foot long, twelve-foot-tall stone wall topped with rubblestone. Built from quarried novaculite rocks that are set flush, it is located on the northern side of the road and offers a view of an adjacent valley.

Civilian Conservation Corps Company 742 had been formed on May 1, 1933, at Camp Pike (now Camp Joseph T. Robinson) and was the second company formed in the Arkansas District. The company moved to Section 33, Township 3 South, Range 29 West on May 18, 1933, and established its camp. The formal camp was built between June 15 and July 12, 1933.

Both overlooks have rubblestone walls that were added at a later date; in the case of the Sugar Creek Vista Overlook, the wall replaced the original railing of large logs atop stone posts.

Though relatively simple structures, the Sugar Creek Vista Overlook and Buckeye Vista Overlook exhibit stylistic differences, such as the grapevine mortaring in the former. Both stand today as testaments to the work of the CCC in Arkansas.

For additional information:
Arkansas CCC District, Seventh Corps Area. “Official Annual Arkansas District Civilian Conservation Corps, Seventh Corps Area.” Little Rock: District Headquarters, 1937.

“Buckeye Vista Overlook.” National Register of Historic Places nomination form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PL0112.nr.pdf (accessed September 23, 2021).

“Sugar Creek Vista Overlook.” National Register of Historic Places nomination form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PL0113.nr.pdf (accessed September 23, 2021).

Mark K. Christ
Arkansas Historic Preservation Program