This magical Arkansas town in the Ozark Mountains brims with discoveries.
Downtown Eureka Springs on March 20, 2021.
Photograph by Trevor Paulhus
Downtown Eureka Springs on March 20, 2021.
Photograph by Trevor Paulhus
April 15, 2021
This article is part of On the Road Again: A Texan s guide to road trips in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
About an hour outside Dallas, the signals of the city’s familiar radio stations start to fade. Instead of opening a music app on my phone, I hit the Seek button and catch snatches of local news reports, bluegrass, and songs I can’t place. This is my favorite part of traveling by car. I love listening in on the soundtrack that plays for people in a town that isn’t mine. And after the past year, it’s a much-needed break from the routine.
Photo courtesy of Anne Cotter
As a young man, Peter O’Brien left his home in Northern Ireland to work at the shipyards in the Channel Islands. There, Irish and Scottish workers spun tales of America as a land of opportunity, a place where “everyone had cars.” Mr. O’Brien eagerly accepted driving lessons on his days off, hoping to soon be driving in a new country.
After immigrating to the U.S.
in the 1950s,
Mr O’Brien would later marry and go on to teach his children, grandchildren and dozens of Irish immigrants how to drive, giving them a sense of freedom in their new country.