What's in a name?

And now...why is this place called Petit Jean?  Who is Jean?  And was she super small or what?  

The lead-up.

 The view.

The grave.

Wait, grave?!  Well, you didn't think someone they named Arkansas' first state park after would still be alive, did you?!  But who knows if there's even anyone in there, or if there ever really was anyone named Petit Jean!  But to keep the romance alive, legend has it...

that Petit Jean was actually a young woman posing as a sailor...on her French fiance's ship to America long ago.  He was going to explore and perhaps lay claim to a piece of the Louisiana Territory and decided that his gal should wait till he returned for her as it might be too dangerous over there.  Apparently she didn't agree and snuck onto his ship as...a sailor.  OK, long story even shorter - they all wound up in this spot in Arkansas, she ends up sick and dying but her fiance finds out his sailor - Little John - is actually his betrothed...she ends up buried here...

Hmm, well, maybe some was lost in this translation...or maybe...oh well, still a neat view from this hilltop "gravesite."

Barges and all. 

What farmland!  Even in a dry year.

This picture is just about rocks - there was an old building up there too that is mostly gone, but the rock walls remain.  I just thought these rock blocks had amazing natural patterns to them.