Pickles Gap (Faulkner County)

Pickles Gap is located in a gap between two ridges roughly two miles north of Conway (Faulkner County) along U.S. Highway 65. A small area settled by farmers in the mid-to-late 1800s, it became known as a tourist attraction in 1966. While no exact date is recorded for the founding of Pickles Gap, there are records of Squire Dunn, who is said to be one of the earliest settlers, and the family of James Day settling there in 1872 and building a farm in the area.

Highway 65 passes over a small waterway that is thought to be the creek in the story of how Pickles Gap got its name. According to one story, a German immigrant was traveling to Conway with a wagon filled with pickle barrels when a wheel of the wagon got stuck in the creek, resulting in it tipping over and spilling the pickles. Another story is that the name came from a family who lived in the area with the last name of Pickles. The area that is called Pickles Gap is relatively small, stretching roughly half a mile along Highway 65. In this area are Pickles Gap Village (now called the Village at Pickles Gap), Pickles Gap Baptist Church, and a side road off the highway called Pickles Gap Road.

Will Adams established a tourist attraction in the area in 1966 under the original name of Adam’s Novelties, a general store that sold hand-crafted items, toys, and games from local artists. It was sold in the 1980s to brothers Harold and Bill Helton, Arkansans who claimed Cherokee ancestry, who reopened it as Pickles Gap Village. During this time, the village came to consist of the Pickle Barrel Fudge Factory, Mack’s Knife Shop, Precious Memories antique shop, Gridley’s Barbecue, and Gina’s Jewel. The Helton brothers owned Pickles Gap Village until 2009, when they teamed up with Al McKay of Oklahoma to create the Arkansas Charity Enterprises, Inc., originally formed in Oklahoma under Native Americans of the Sac and Fox Nation. The corporation purchased Pickles Gap Village from the Helton brothers, and the profits would then go toward getting a group of roughly 1,400 Arkansans federally recognized as a Cherokee tribe (the so-called Arkansas Cherokee Nation). By doing this, Pickles Gap Village would then be able to legally sell items under the category of Native American–made products. This effort was ultimately unsuccessful.

Pickles Gap Village was owned by the Arkansas Charity Enterprises, Inc., until about 2016 when it changed ownership to Bill and Kathy Helton. The village closed for a few years while renovations were made and reopened in 2021 as the Village at Pickles Gap. With new management came new businesses that included the Rustic Jewel soapery and spa, Doc’s Coffee and Creamery, Pickle Patch Trading Post, Arkansas Knife Shop, Hazel Green, Bean’s Books, and Gleam Art Gallery.

When Harold and Bill Helton owned Pickles Gap Village, all of the buildings were the same shade of red and were modeled after old-fashioned log cabins, with the Fudge Factory having a large water wheel on the side. When the Village at Pickles Gap opened, the buildings were kept in the style of pioneer houses, but the colors were changed to a more natural wood color. Each store had its own distinct appearance while keeping with the settlement village theme that the Helton brothers had created.

For additional information:
Pickles Gap Village. https://www.picklesgapvillage.com/ (accessed November 12, 2025).

Mikaela Bailey
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture