The Williams Woods Nature Preserve is a 557-acre chunk of land owned by the Ozark Highlands Trail Association and located a bit northeast of St Paul in Madison County Arkansas.  The land was bequeathed to OHTA in 1993 by Alpha Williams, who lived there most of her life and wanted to ensure it was preserved rather than exploited.  OHTA has secured a conservation easement and now has the property for sale.

I’d heard talk of this place for several years but this was my first visit.  There is a 3-mile trail loop that was greatly impacted by an ice storm in 2009 and for some reason, we were just now getting the debris cleared.  It was really way more tree-cutting than weed-whacking and the 4 of us got it done in one day instead of taking all weekend, but I had already decided on the title of this post and I’m sticking with it.

The house, on the Register of National Historic Places, was built from native timber in 1937 using hand-hewn dovetails and is a rare surviving example of that technique.  There are at least two other old pioneer homesteads on the property.  OHTA has much more information.  I neglected to take my camera but the realtor has some good pictures.