The 11 best free attractions in Fort Smith

This is the third time in Fort Smith and I was able to finally visit the historic site before it closed. There is plenty of parking, and it was a nice break from the heat. They have an orientation video and two floors to walk through. It gives a nice history of the area and glad to see it staffed by National Park employees. The riverwalk is also not far at all. The grounds outside are spacious and beautiful. Historic plaques with descriptions are scattered around.

We visited Fort Smith National Historic Site on a slow Monday, which made for a very peaceful experience. The history here is fascinating, from the courtroom of Judge Parker to the stories of the Three Guardsmen and the infamous outlaws. The site is well-preserved, and the exhibits really bring the Old West to life. If you’re traveling in an RV, there’s parking available just outside the 3rd Street lot in a dirt area next to the big brick. Our 43’ rig fit comfortably, which was a huge relief. The staff is friendly and helpful, and it’s easy to spend a few hours exploring the buildings and learning about this unique part of frontier history. Highly recommend a stop here if you’re passing through Arkansas!

Due to the government shutdown, we could only tour the outside site. It’s was interesting. Obviously the outside is free. There are interesting informative posts along the grounds. You can still peek between the fence to see the gallows (which are locked due to the shutdown).

Well, I can honestly say that when I walked into this National Park, I had no idea what this Fort was. I'm so glad I came here! Passport cancelation stamps are to the left as you walk into the vistor center. Total of three passport cancelation stamps here. Make sure you watch the 15-minute movie on the history of Fort Smith.

Awesome place. Totally free and I learned a lot of new things. The history was pretty cool, they have a whole historical courthouse and even a jail! Plus some things outdoors. Definitely recommend to visit, even if it's gonna be short. You end up spending some good time there though if you actually look at everything.

#POTA, parks on the air, amateur radio Great historic location for amateur radio. Set up in parking lots or on the spacious grounds during non-peak attendance times. 24-hour access. Take bug spray!

Belle Point is a historic site where the U.S. Army established Fort Smith, serving as a crucial point on the border of the Indian Territory from 1817 to 1907. This line, officially marked in 1834, separated the Arkansas Territory from Indian Territory and became the center for enforcing law and order for the vast lands west of the Arkansas River. The site played a significant role during the forced removal of tribes like the Cherokee via the Trail of Tears, acting as the last point of federal land before entering Indian Territory

Had a great time. They had some very interesting display about the local history. The young lady working there (she was doing everything) was super helpful and very nice.

A very interesting museum to visit. The staff are knowledgeable and welcoming. So much history and artifacts to see and learn about. We would recommend others to this museum.

Great museum in downtown Fort Smith with some fascinating artifacts and displays that really tell the story of our city and some of our famous residents that have shaped our community. I highly recommend visiting and spending at least a couple of hours to fully gain an appreciation for this treasure of a museum.

We came from Texas specifically to learn more about history but when we tried to ask about something the staff in the front continued their conversation about someone balding completely disregarding us. The items there were cool and we loved the kid friendly activities just wished it was a little more welcoming. As other reviews stated it’s kind of random and not too much about Native Americans or trail of tears

This museum does a good job showcasing artifacts about how the city changed and evolved in the late 19th and early 20th century. The exhibits could be a little more cohesive, as they sometimes seem unrelated and jumbled. Still a great overall learning experience.

Nice museum and people at the front desk were busy but nice. Unfortunately no tap and pay but that was fine.

3 young lads in a golf cart pulled up asking cop questions working maintenance for the park. As an American-Korean-Texan-Veteran USA Coastguard 1988 Honorable visiting Arkansas for the many museums & Clinton library with my elderly mother. Those youngsters on the clock sit on their butts in that golf cart when they can be getting the dingy sidewalks power washed clean. Easy money!

Terrific place to take small children with indoor and outdoor play areas as well as hands on exhibits. Plenty of educational opportunities here. Aquarium is great too! Young at heart husbands will enjoy visiting too! 😊 Wildlife viewing area with benches.

Beautiful place love going here but I know a few people who have gotten tickets on things that are not posted anywhere around the lake so please update yall's rules posted around the lake! Like on anything that can get a person a ticket so if they do end up getting one , then they was fully aware of the rules and choose to ignore it! The person who got a ticket has seen many people use nets at wells lake when you go to their website or look anywhere online, you don't see anything that says that It's not allowed! Unless it's just that difficult to to find the rules and as someone who isn't good with phones maybe im just not looking right! These are the only signs we saw when looking after my nephews friend got a ticket. Also the portable toilets smell absolutely nasty and we're actually quite scared to use them because how nasty they are, but they lock the other bathrooms ( i dont blame them because how destructive people can be) but they are extremely unsanitary so definitely make sure you go before you get there. Especially if you're there to fish. And their reptiles aren't in the best condition

Really nice nature museum ! Park playground and walking trails , fishing canoeing and archery! Gift shop. Free admission to everyone. I love bringing my grandkids here ! Even in a rainy day there’s plenty of play inside.

My family enjoys visiting the nature Center at least once every couple of months or so. There are so few free edutainment options for families with kids, let alone ones that have air-conditioning! The nature center is always very clean and the staff is friendly. My kids all enjoy coloring nature pictures in the creative room, and always do the scavenger hunt for a free prize. We’ve also enjoyed the indoor archery range a couple of times when they’ve hosted free clinics for kids. Families with kids in Northwest Arkansas could do much worse than spend a morning or afternoon here having fun and learning all the same time!

Just a wonderful evening stroll with my wife on Sunday evening! Not physically demanding, not so long of walk, 1.7 miles Timed it perfectly during April where weather conditions were perfect and no bugs !! What are the chances 😂😂

I've been going here since I was very little. It's a great place to have birthdays at. it's very fun to look at all the cool stuff they have. I love the Janet Huckabee center so much and highly recommend going there if you like walking trails as well as nature.

I've been taking my grandkids out here for years. My youngest grandchild is 6 years old and she's been a couple times. She loves it. So much to do out there. Fun for kids

Worth your time! The director was there for my visit and shared such interesting facts on both the Elvis/barbershop side and the Fort Chaffee/WW2 side. They pack a lot of fascinating stuff into a small and well designed space. Highly recommend!

What a top notch museum. Artistic presentation with interesting history and artifacts. Ann gave us fabulous tour. A fantastic stop, thank you.

Great, quick stop for a history or military buff and/or Elvis fan. Lots of memorabilia about Elvis when he had his military haircut and stay at Camp Chaffee when he joined the Army. Friendly volunteer was there to share lots of info. Another room full of Chaffee and area history. Free admission . Walk across the parking lot to check out the Museum of Chaffee History too.

Definitely worth the stop. The lady gave us lots of information about this area. It’s not only where Elvis got his first haircut. It’s history about World War II as well and a POW camp for Germans.

Excellent memorabilia of both Elvis and military of the base. It was fun to see the exact barbershop where Elvis got his military haircut in 1958. The barber who cut his hair still has his name posted at his station.

If you are an Elvis fan it's a must visit. If you enjoy military history, it should be one of your stops. Small but very interesting

If your heart is set on coming here to visit, call before you come. I drove 6 hours out of my way to visit this specific museum. I am also a Barber and my shop is decorated decorated with all Elvis. So this was extra sentimental to me. I planned my vacation around this visit. I was so sad to arrive an hour before closing and no one was around. I saw a small sign in the window.

Beautiful park! Huge and spacious with so many activities for all ages. Mini golf, kiddy park, and big kid park with new equipment. Train track all around the outside, and there's more! Bathrooms are available to the public.

It's a pretty nice park, and does have tennis and ball courts as well as several playgrounds for any age. I ended up going in order to see the Christmas lights, and it was too crowded for my taste. Some of the displays were not working, and there was no guidance on the best way to walk through it. Several people were quite rude and would run me off my path, or not pay attention when I was taking pictures. Outside of that, it was a nice spot to go.

Creekmoore is great! They have plenty of amenities with the biggest being plenty of SHADE for the hot summer months. Mini golf, snow cones, a pool, walking trails, and even a miniature train that is free to the public!

Seems like there is always some construction project going on but never to refurbish/modernize the main public restroom at the main playground area. It’s disgusting (the men’s is anyways). It’s just like an oversized Job Johnny in there. It really wouldn’t take all that much time, effort or money to drastically improve it. If our little used airport can have super nice restrooms then Creekmore should at least get decent ones.

The train and lights were awesome! And the hot chocolate was perfect! Also made my heart warm going back to the exact spot we were married 24.5 years ago!

My grandchildren love this park so much!!

Beautiful clean park, clean bathrooms too! Great place for a picnic or to let the kids play. We had a blast playing mini golf too!

We took the whole family and arrived shortly after opening. It was the best time to go as the park was not crowded. At about 1pm, it really picked up, and there were a lot of people. It is a great park and family friendly. The lifeguards were vigilant and provided a sense of safety.

Me and my kids and family enjoy this swim park so much it's the best one that's closer to where we live by fortsmith arkansas. They are also enlarging it to make it more fun

The only thing I can say here is that the employees here are not very attentive, lines are very long for customer desk I feel like there's not many of them that know what's going on but the park itself is awesome, food is good, everything smells clean, the pools are clean, we have season passes and we love it Everytime we go.

It's nice for what it is. Food prices weren't too awful and everyone was friendly. My son loved it and had such a good time on everything. I really enjoyed the lazy river and it was nice to have a locker. Entrance price is a bit high for what they offer but we still had a great time

This is a very nice water park for the area. The attractions were great and well maintained and my family enjoyed the small child area with my son.

The 5 water slides offer too little thrills for the amount of climbing you have to do although there’s usually little wait once you get up there. Wave pool is good but they need to make the waves quite a bit bigger or have one day a month where the waves are like 20 footers but you have to sign a waiver that you won’t sue before you can go in. The lazy river is solid. The place is surprisingly clean. The pavement can be hot on the soles of the feet if you’re walking around without flip flops.

We took 3 boys to Parrot Island for some weekend fun and we all had a blast. We all enjoyed the lazy river, the beach and a very large play area with sprinklers and slides for the smaller boys. Me and my 7 year old son raced down the different waterslidez they had available for bigger kids and adults. There was basketball hoops in a pool area along with swimming area. the concession stand had plenty of food to cover my picky eaters and several drinks to choose from. It was overall a great time for the family and we plan to go back soon.

Very disappointed. Was expecting an educational experience but only experienced what amounted to a neighborhood park. The photo I posted is the only plaque/sign that gives VERY limited information.

They need a bathroom. I would put a zero if possible. There are people who visit and want to be able to use the restroom without having to drive to the nearest walmart to go to the bathroom

Ignoring the history of the location, there's not really anything here beyond a short trail looping around a small field and a lone bench. As far as green spaces go, it's pleasant, but definitely toward the bottom of the list.

Pretty boring tiny little trail with a few little signs and no real structures. Why does this exist? The only redeeming quality was the calm atmosphere

Great place. Went metal detecting. Love it beautiful and peaceful

This is just a simple path through a shaded wooded area near a residential neighborhood. There were a couple of historical markers, but not much else - no restrooms, shelters or picnic facilities.

This is a small park with about an eighth of a mile path that would be good if you wanted to bring a pet for a walk with you. There are three signs showing the location for Company B, company D, and the kitchen. There is a plaque commemorating the battle, a flag pole and flag donated in 2011, and if you have your cell phone there is a telephone number to dial that provides a two or three minute description of the battle that happened here.

Well maintained facility for soccer tournament. Only downside is the number of restrooms in their location. If you weren’t close to the concession stand with bathroom, had to use porta potty.

We went here for a birthday cook out. There had been a burn ban in place, but it had been raining for almost 10 hours straight the night before so we thought it was lifted since there was standing water all over the ground. We set up under a Pavillion and had the whole party set up already. The sebastian county cop working off duty security then drives up on the grass to avoid walking in the mud to tell us the Pavillion was reserved and we couldn't use the charcoal grill for the burn ban. Annoyed he didn't tell us 30 minutes ago as he'd been sitting on the edge of the parking lot the whole time, we tried to not let it ruin the day. We moved to another Pavillion and picked up pizzas. An hour later, no one was still occupying the previous Pavillion. Then another family brings a smoker and a propane grill and began cooking with nothing said to them. So we take our party of about 10 people to a near by softball field and began playing a recreational game like we had planned. About 20 minutes into the game, the same cop comes to tell us we can't be on the field. I questioned that there were no signs saying it was private and no fences preventing us from entering it. He got defensive and told us we had to leave and it was only allowed for scheduled games. I then asked about the other people grilling and he said he just must of not seen it. But he drove past them to come tell us to leave the field.

Played mini golf ⛳ and had a great time. The course was fun and neat. I would definitely do this 27 hole course again. It was only $7.00 to play.

There are nice trails here that are safe with other people walking. The trail also goes to lake Torraine.

We adored this park. Coming through the area and decided to bike here for 3-4 hours with our kids. Amazing trails!

This park has an extensive network of paved multi-use trails that traverse varying terrain and scenery. It really is a beautiful area for biking/walking/running. There is also a lengthy mountain bike trail winding throughout the park complete with a few features to add even more fun. Don't forget about the tennis courts/baseball/softball fields and paved running loop with a few outdoor workout stations.

This course ripped off the flying armadillo disc golf club in San Marcos, TX and didn't give the original designer any credit. He copied the entire course. Imitation is a form of flattery but give Flying Armadillo it's credit when credit is due.

We came to the splash pad amd it smells like dirty water as if it had mud, why? Shouldn't it smell like chlorox some? Sat 7/19/2025

For anyone that's searching for this park, the Lord Jesus Christ loves you. It'd be a good thing to help the community with the homeless, that's how you love. Jesus is when you help someone, especially someone that no one else will help. They're just lonely, and they need love. Let Jesus love them through you. He might just save a soul.

The shade provided is AWESOME and the big slide at splash pad is so fun for kids as they run there energy up and down... Also has a very nice playground with wonderful shade.

Yesterday was my first time to the park in 25 plus years. I took my 3 year old great granddaughter to play on the play ground. It was such a great experience. Clean, has shade covering, lots of things to do, several was to interact with others. We had a great time. Even used the bb court to fly our kite. ;)

My 9 month old & 5 year old love the splash pad! I like that it's shaded as well. Will give the park side a go next time

If the bigger kids get in there from ages 12 up, they don't watch for the little kids and babies playing in the park. I took the baby home after a bigger kid mowed him down, not waiting for his turn to slide. My boy had gone down already. He had just stood up when the bigger boy knocked him off his feet so hard he went upside down. He walked it off, but we left due to all the bigger kids taking over the slide. There were far more little kids there, but the older ones didn't care, and the parents would not do anything about it. Shameful! This park has just been finished. Everything is new but please watch your children.

Went my granddaughters birthday party they had fun at the splash park nice place for kids to have fun

It's fun and there rides and cheap $1 per person and the train restaurant is good too I went there with my three kids and had 20 dollars to spend on food and the guy there split two orders of burgers that had everything on them with fries and a pop with free refillsand the guy had the cook split it up in the kitchen and it was really good

Unique play space close to the downtown splash pad. Great burger and fries restaurant. Not too crowded on the day we went so we took our time walking around. Great photo ops.

A fun little park with some cute photo opportunities. The people there were super nice, and the Ferris wheel only cost us $1 each. We were glad we took the time to stop in during our visit. (Photos are views from the top of the Ferris wheel)

The Farris wheel was not open, although it said it was on the web page! Splash pad was fun though.

Kids playing in the Splash Pad and adults getting cooled off in it as well especially me. Everyone and I literally mean everyone was so friendly!

First time going to the splash pad. Nice way to cool off on a hot day. Simple, yet refreshing. It's nice to find a little something to do on an evening out in town with a little one.

The park is a very small area with a merry go round, a ferris wheel, and a restaurant. There is also a newly built splash pad right behind it that is fun for all ages. There is relatively few people that go there so if you want to keep going over and over on the rides you can. The restaurant by it is also good too. The rides I believe are only 25¢ but I could be wrong. It would make a great little hang out or romantic spot 😉.