Witter and Crater of Diamonds State Park

I apologize for the delay in these articles. The last minute trip down to Atlanta, Geogia to care for Aunt Val offset my schedule, especially since I’ve been excited to enjoy the wonderful outdoors. Thanks, y’all, for your patience. And yes, I’m assuming that you were patient. Enjoy!

In a musical called Big River, which was about Huckleberry Finn, one of the songs goes along like this: “Arkansas, Arkansas, I just love ol’ Arkansas. Love my ma, love my pa, but I just love ol’ Arkansas.” While perhaps not my favourite state, it certainly was fun to travel through. From Memphis, we took Interstate 40 west through Little Rock, and then along near Alma, we got onto Interstate 49 and took it North to a little town named Witter.

In Witter, I don’t know where we stayed, but at least I know why we were there. My mom had an old friend, Mr. Barry. He used to have a house in Sebring, too, but he left to stay on ‘his mountain.’ Yes, he basically owned a mountain. He built a house, and then let some of his friends in to build their own houses, consequently making a compound of sorts. It was really fun, visiting him. He took us for a tour around the property, but we didn’t stay too long, but moved onward, going south, to Murfreesboro, AR.

Just south of Murfreesboro, there is a National Park called Crater of Diamonds. This park’s claim to fame is that it is the only site in the world where visitors can search for diamonds in their original volcanic location. Well, you may ask, how do they stop you from keeping the diamonds you find? That’s their second claim to fame. No, not an impressive security system, or how many diamonds people have snuck out, but instead a policy they have. A policy that allows visitors to keep any diamonds that they find.

Excited to find diamonds, we arrived at Crater of Diamonds with kids garden tools, and perhaps even a spade or two. Meanwhile, a truck pulled up not far from where we were getting the tools out of the ‘belly bin’ of the camper, with proper tools, buckets, etc. There are two different ways to search for diamonds. The first is to walk around, looking on the surface, and the second is to dig down and look. We tried both methods, but didn’t find anything notable.

Diamonds vary in colour, and Crater of Diamonds has three different kinds: white, brown, and yellow. There are also several other minerals which you can find, such as amethyst, jasper, and quartz. Diamonds at Crater of Diamonds have also varied in size. The largest, Uncle Sam, was 40.23 carats.

I would absolutely recommend visiting this park. Just like the last stop. And the next. And the ones after that. From here, we venture into the great state of Texas! I wrote three different articles just on our stops in Texas. My goal for re-writing these articles is to include what hadn’t been written about previously, and expand articles, so I don’t think I will combine any of these. But now I have recorded our trip all the way from Sebring, FL to Crater of Diamonds National Park, in Arkansas. These adventures have added about another 590 miles, totaling so far to 1,490 miles. Thanks again for your patience!