Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point is an annual summer opera festival and opera training program in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Founded in 1950 by Henry Hobart and Gertrude Stockard, the festival serves as a training ground for young opera professionals. [1] Several alumni of the festival have gone on to have prominent performing careers, including Mark Delavan, Stephen Dickson, Tom Fox, Carroll Freeman, Beverly Hoch, Hei-Kyung Hong, Sherman Ray Jacobs, William Johns, Patricia Johnson, Gwendolyn Jones, Marquita Lister, Chris Merritt, Leona Mitchell, Brian Montgomery, Latonia Moore, Louis Otey, Kay Paschal, Cyndia Sieden, Richard Vernon, and Jennifer Zetlan. [2]
History
Charles Mowers, a German-born engineer and inventor, came from Texas to the Ozark Mountains around 1900 to hunt wild game. He bought the land known as the Big Rock Candy Mountain in 1928 and began construction of a “castle” based on his memories of buildings along the Rhine River. Using stone quarried on the property, he incorporated an unusual building method he called Egyptian Rock Work.
After the stock market crash of 1929, Mowers abandoned his castle and returned to Texas. The castle was finished in 1932 by the Reverend Charles Scoville (1869–1938), a renowned preacher of the Disciples of Christ, who planned to use it as a retreat from his evangelistic labors. He named the site “Inspiration Point.” After his death, his widow gave the property to Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, for a conference and retreat center. Ten years later, however, this project was abandoned, and Henry Hobart, formerly dean of fine arts at Phillips, joined with Gertrude Stockard, director of music at Eureka Springs High School, to organize a music camp, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony (IPFAC), which held its first session in the summer of 1950. Hobart and his wife financed extensive repairs to the buildings with loans and donations from Eureka Springs businesses. Some furnishings were obtained from government surplus stores. Practice pianos were donated by area churches and schools.
Arkansas is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma to the west. Its name derives from the Osage language, and refers to their relatives, the Quapaw people. The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta.
Shiloh or Shilo may refer to:
Sulphur Springs is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 481 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Northwest Arkansas region.
The city of Harrison is the county seat of Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is named after Marcus LaRue Harrison, a surveyor who laid out the city along Crooked Creek at Stifler Springs. According to 2019 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 13,069, up from 12,943 at the 2010 census and it is the 30th largest city in Arkansas based on official 2019 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Harrison is the principal city of the Harrison Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boone and Newton counties.
Eureka Springs is a city in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States, and one of two county seats for the county. It is located in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas, near the border with Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 2,166.
Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Garland County. The city is located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs for which the city is named. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 37,930, making it the 11th most populous city in Arkansas.
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portion of northern Arkansas and most of the southern half of Missouri, extending from Interstate 40 in central Arkansas to Interstate 70 in central Missouri.
Euine Fay Jones was an American architect and designer. An apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright during his professional career, Jones is the only one of Wright's disciples to have received the AIA Gold Medal (1990), the highest honor awarded by the American Institute of Architects. He also achieved international prominence as an architectural educator during his 35 years of teaching at the University of Arkansas School of Architecture.
Hot Springs National Park is an American national park in central Garland County, Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Hot Springs, the county seat. Hot Springs Reservation was initially created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1832, to be preserved for future recreation. Established before the concept of a national park existed, it was the first time that land had been set aside by the federal government to preserve its use as an area for recreation. The hot spring water has been popularly believed for centuries to possess medicinal properties, and was a subject of legend among several Native American tribes. Following federal protection in 1832, the city developed into a successful spa town.
Christ of the Ozarks statue is a monumental sculpture of Jesus located near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, atop Magnetic Mountain. It was erected in 1966 as a "Sacred Project" by populist and white supremacist Gerald L. K. Smith. The statue stands 65.5 feet high.
Monte Ne was a health resort and planned community established and operated by William Hope Harvey from 1901 into the 1920s. It was located in a valley just east of the town of Rogers, Arkansas, though today its location is mostly under the waters of Beaver Lake. The resort consisted of several hotels, a lake, an indoor swimming pool, a golf course, tennis courts, bowling alleys, its own post office and bank, as well as a dedicated train line and an imported Italian gondola to conduct guests to the resort. In 1931 Monte Ne was the site of the only presidential convention ever held in the state.
The geography of Arkansas varies widely. The state is covered by mountains, river valleys, forests, lakes, and bayous in addition to the cities of Arkansas. Hot Springs National Park features bubbling springs of hot water, formerly sought across the country for their healing properties. Crowley's Ridge is a geological anomaly rising above the surrounding lowlands of the Mississippi embayment.
The Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway is a for-profit passenger tourist railway established by the late Robert Dortch, Jr. and his wife Mary Jane in 1981 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The railway offers one-hour excursion tours, a catered luncheon train and a catered dinner train - each lasting a little more than one hour, from April through October. It operates along 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of restored track right-of-way formerly belonging to the defunct Arkansas & Ozarks Railway Co - the last incarnation of the North Arkansas Line.
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge (TCWR) is a 459-acre wildlife refuge for abused, abandoned, and neglected big cats.
U.S. Route 62 is a U.S. highway running from El Paso, Texas northeast to Niagara Falls, New York. In the U.S. state of Arkansas, the route runs 329.9 miles from the Oklahoma border near Summers east to the Missouri border in St. Francis, serving the northern portion of the state. The route passes through several cities and towns, including Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville, Harrison, Mountain Home, Pocahontas, and also Piggott. US 62 runs concurrent with several highways in Arkansas including Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 71 between Fayetteville and Bentonville, U.S. Route 412 through much of the state, U.S. Route 65 in the Harrison area, and with U.S. Route 63 and U.S. Route 67 in northeast Arkansas.
The Arkansas River Valley is a region in Arkansas defined by the Arkansas River in the western part of the state. Generally defined as the area between the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, the River Valley is characterized by flat lowlands covered in fertile farmland and lakes periodically interrupted by high peaks. Mount Magazine, Mount Nebo, and Petit Jean Mountain compose the Tri-Peaks Region, a further subdivision of the River Valley popular with hikers and outdoors enthusiasts. In addition to the outdoor recreational activities available to residents and visitors of the region, the River Valley contains Arkansas's wine country as well as hundreds of historical sites throughout the area. It is one of six natural divisions of Arkansas.
Holiday Island is a 4,500-acre planned retirement and vacation community in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States. Formerly an unincorporated community and census-designated place, it voted to incorporate in November 2020. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,533. Holiday Island is located in the Ozark Mountains on Table Rock Lake, near Eureka Springs, Arkansas and approximately an hour's drive from Branson, Missouri, Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Bentonville, Arkansas. Community growth has been fueled by the expansion of corporate giants headquartered in Northwest Arkansas, namely Walmart, Tyson Foods, and J.B. Hunt; the entertainment attractions in Eureka Springs, AR and Branson, MO; the visitor traffic from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Pea Ridge National Military Park, and the Roaring River State Park; and the influence of University of Arkansas, the state's largest university.
The Battle of McGuire's Store was fought at McGuire, Arkansas, near Elkins, between Union forces led by Brigadier General Francis J. Herron and Confederate forces under Colonel Jesse L. Cravens during the American Civil War. The skirmish was the result of an attempt by Union Brigadier General John Schofield to trap a body of Confederate cavalry reported to be at McGuire's Store. In the event, the operation failed when Herron's column took the wrong road and approached from the west instead of the north. Herron's well-equipped troops attacked Cravens' poorly armed and demoralized Texas cavalrymen and drove them off. This minor clash and other events caused Confederate Major General Thomas C. Hindman to suspend his intended advance to recover northwestern Arkansas and withdraw to the Arkansas River. Ironically, most of Schofield's soldiers also retreated to Missouri after the fight. Though the clash was minor, it marked one pulse of the ebb and flow of the war in northwest Arkansas.
Mr. Christmas is 2004 American Christmas film directed by Beth Brickell. It was produced by Luminous Films and licensed to PBS, who first broadcast it in 2005 and for four consecutive years during the holiday season. The movie was filmed and set in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a Victorian town in the Ozark Mountains.