THE BURNS PARK SCOUT HIKING TRAIL
HISTORY, HINTS, MAP AND PATCH REQUIREMENTS
Requirements For Earning Patch
1. SUBMIT TOUR PERMIT
2. READ HISTORY OF BURNS PARK BEFORE HIKING THE TRAIL
3. CUBS HIKE 5 MILES AND BOY SCOUTS 10 MILES
4. HIKE TRAIL IN UNIFORM AND DO 30 MINUTES PER PERSON OF TRAIL IMPROVEMENTS (PICK UP
TRASH, TRIM LIMBS, LINE TRAIL WITH ROCKS)
5. ANSWER QUESTIONS IN THE BACK OF BOOKLET TO THE SATISFACTION OF THE LEADER IN CHARGE (
PATROL LEADER, DEN LEADER)
6. PATCHES CAN BE OBTAINED BY UNIT LEADER SUBMITTING LIST (IN BACK OF BOOKLET) OF
QUALIFIED HIKERS TO THE COUNCIL OFFICE
1. Allow 3 to 4 hours for 5 mile trail.
2. Allow 6 to 8 hours for 10 mile trail.
3. Wear Water-proof boots or shoes (Some areas are muddy).
4. Take Day Pack with lunch, canteen, compass, insect spray, etc.
5. Note on Map where RR (restroom) and W (water) are located.
6. For trail maintenance take trash bags, bowsaw.
7. Care should he taken crossing roads.
8. The trail goes by several bluffs and along steep banked creeks, so hike in a group or
use the Buddy System.
9. Take and use the Outdoor Code.
As you hike the Burns Park Scout Hiking Trail not only will you see
beautiful woods, hills and streams but you can relive the interesting history. Read all of
this booklet before hiking the trail. It goes by most the places mentioned herein so take
your time, explore and enjoy walking the paths Indians, settlers and soldiers have used
for many years. You will truly appreciate the beauty and heritage of our nation's second
largest municipal park, Burns Park.
The Quapaw Indians were the first recorded people to inhabit this land. The first white
settlers along the Arkansas River in the early 1800's complained to the government of
Indians raiding their farms, stealing livestock and occasional loss of lives. Through many
treaties all the Quapaw were moved out to reservations in Oklahoma by 1830 making way for
many more settlers to move in. The only sign that Indians once lived here is the few stone
arrowheads that are found in plowed fields or washouts.
The first known settler in the park area was John Christian Heilman. The cemetery on the
knoll by white Oak Bayou is marked with a monument to the graves of him and his daughter
Louisa Matilda.
John came from Germany with his parents and two brothers and ran away from home at age 14.
Working on a boat he came up the Arkansas River and chose this area to homestead around
1830. His first wife died leaving him with five children. He then married Jane Rosenbaum,
age 17, in 1841 after giving her family a parcel of land on which to homestead. John and
Jane had four boys and the girl whom only lived for two years. John built a store which
was the only one along the route between Little Rock and Fort Smith. He sold tobacco and
food from the fertile land he farmed. He was also a skilled cabinet maker. He died in 1852
at the age of 46 of a coughing disease and was buried beside his daughter.
Jane was left with her four boys and five step-children to raise. With the education she
got in Germany before coming to America she taught the children and sold milk, butter and
eggs. The children had to help with chores and providing food for the table. There was an
abundance of deer, turkey and squirrel to be hunted and fish to be caught out of the White
Oak Bayou and Arkansas River. As the step-children married and moved away, Mrs. Heilman
took in other children who ware orphans.
The original cabin of John Heilman was falling apart so Jane had a new larger house built
in 1859. It was two small cabins connected by a breezeway or dogtrot. The home place was
located just North of the Burns Park boundary at the corner of the old Conway Highway and
Crystal Hill Road.
The Civil War started in l862 and bad times set upon the Heilmans and most all families of
Arkansas. The soldiers from both sides took guns and livestock leaving the family with
little food and defenseless. Jane's oldest boy, Chris, was conscripted into the
Confederate Army and drove a wagon load of cotton to sell in Mexico. Many wounded and
hungry soldiers stopped here and were always given help. A Confederate soldier is buried
in the family cemetery located behind the old house place. Sorrowful times continued for
Mrs. Heilman. Her youngest son, Willie, died as the result of a fall off a mule at age
nine. Chris, who was 21 by now, returned from the Civil War and soon died from a tropical
disease he contracted there. Another son, Henry, was killed in a fall from a pecan tree.
She was left with George who soon married and raised seven children living in the same
house. They went to school at the Crystal Hill School which sat at the entrance to Burns
Park on Military Drive. Jane taught Sunday School and lived to be 84. She was buried in
the family cemetery in 1908. George lived till 1939 and other relatives still live in the
Crystal Hill area.
The old home place was starting to fall down so it was carefully taken apart and one of
the cabins was moved to the park in 1975. It stands across from the Heilman cemetery. The
hand hewn timbers are well preserved for being built before the Civil War. Other early
park residents were the Rosenbaums (Jane's relatives), Shillcutts, Sullivans, and
Bremyers.
The United States government came in between 1900 and 1915 and bought up all this land. It
was called Camp Pike and was used for a rifle range and for training maneuvers for
soldiers during World War I. Fox holes which the trainees dug can still be found on the
hillsides. The area was later part of Camp Robinson.
Dr. William Milton Burns moved to North Little Rock, then called Argenta, in 1912 and
practiced medicine for the next 50 years. He was elected mayor in l919 and 1923. He was
always dedicated to helping the youth in the community and served several terms on the
School Board. He was the team physician for the North Little Rock High School Wildcat
football team which he supported for many years. It is estimated Dr. Burns delivered 8,000
babies in his career.
He started a drive in 1948 to buy 870 acres of land called River Reservation from the
United States government. In 1949 the city council appropriated $20,000 for the purchase.
Dr. Burns headed up the Park Committee and with volunteer help started clearing brush and
building pavilions and picnic areas. Even though past retirement age he helped build the
lake and covered bridge to provide a place for kids to fish.
It was no surprise that in April, 1950, that Mayor Ross Lawhon declared the city park
would be named Burns Park. Dr. Burns died of a heart attack in December of 1953. He had so
many friends his funeral was held in the North Little Rock High School auditorium. A
granite memorial was made in his memory and placed at the entrance to the Park on Military
Road in 1968.
More land was bought and many more improvements were made with the help of men like Joe
Poch, Mayor Casey Laman and many others. The city now has a Parks Commission and a well
staffed Parks Department that does an excellent job. In the 1375 acres there is a 27 hole
Golf Course, Indoor and Outdoor Tennis Court, Special Playground for handicapped children,
Boat Launching Ramps on the river, Pavilions, Archery Range, Trailer Camping Area, Boy and
Girl Scout Camping area, Water Slide, Amusement Park, Baseball and Soccer Fields, and many
special events each year like craft shows and concerts.
The original Burns Park Scout Trail was built in 1968 and thousands of patches were earned
hiking it. The new Trail was built in late 1985 to early 1986. Over 1000 hours were spent
by Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts from all over central Arkansas. It will be maintained by
Scouts and all visitors are welcomed to hike it.
A good view of the park and community surrounding it can be had from the Observation Point
on the East side. As North Little Rock continues to grow we will find that Burns Park is
an island of woods in a ocean of buildings and roads. We each have a responsibility to
help preserve and take care of Burns Park by picking up trash and doing park improvement
projects. That's the way Dr. Burns and John Heilman would have wanted it. Enjoy your hike.
Additional reading on North Little Rock and Burns Park can be found in the book "
Indelible Footprints " by Evelyn Eubanks.
Questions
1. For whom is the Park named?
2. What was the land used for during World War I?
3. Who were the first known Indians to live there?
4. Where was John Heilman from?
5. What Bayou runs through the Park?
6. In what year was the log cabin built?
7. When was the land bought from the government for the park?
8. How many acres are contained in the Park today?
9. When was the Burns Park Scout Hiking Trail first built?
10. List 3 things you can do to make the park a nice place to visit?
BURNS PARK SCOUT HIKING TRAIL PATCH LIST
