September 18, 2011

Jacob Barkman moved to the area near present-day Arkadelphia (Clark County) around 1811 and later built a substantial brick home near the Southwest Trail. Because there were no restaurants or hotels in the modern sense, frontier settlers who lived along the trail often provided travelers room, a meal, and livestock feed for a fee. He was visited by early traveler George Featherstonhaugh, who reported that Barkman’s wife “chewed tobacco, she smoked a pipe, she drank whiskey, and cursed and swore as heartily as any backwoodsman, all at the same time.”