Fort Smith National Historic Site

At Fort Smith National Historic Site you can walk where soldiers drilled, pause along the Trail of Tears, and stand where justice was served.

The park includes the remains of two frontier forts and the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas. The stories told at Fort Smith National Historic Site span the years 1817-1896. Soldiers, laundresses, Native Americans, civilians, federal judges and marshals, deputy marshals, jail guards, lawyers, and outlaws all played a role in the history that unfolded here. Located on the grounds are the foundation remains of the first Fort Smith (1817-1824), the Commissary building (c. 1838) and a reconstruction of the gallows used by the federal court. A walking trail along the Arkansas River includes wayside exhibits on the Trail of Tears.