Take a quiet ride across the heart of the Arkansas Delta as we follow Arkansas Highway 38 from Cotton Plant to Des Arc, a short but richly textured stretch where river bottoms, historic farm towns, and wide-open fields shape the rhythm of the drive. This 15-mile journey moves westward across two of the region’s defining waterways—the Cache and the White—linking communities whose histories are tied to timber, agriculture, and river trade.
We begin on the west side of Cotton Plant, turning onto Highway 38 from AR-17. Cotton Plant itself, once a bustling Delta timber town, still carries echoes of its past in the small grid of streets behind us. As we head out of town, the landscape quickly opens, unfolding into the flat, fertile fields that have long sustained this part of Woodruff County. Before long, the road narrows slightly as it approaches the Cache River, a corridor of wetlands and dense riverbank timber that forms one of the last great bottomland ecosystems in the region. Crossing the river, we enter Little Dixie, a community whose name speaks to deep roots in Delta culture. The junction with AR-33 North appears just beyond the bridge—a rural connector that threads north toward Augusta and the expanses of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge.
Continuing west, Highway 38 settles into a rhythmic stretch of farmland punctuated by stands of trees and the occasional grain bin. The drive through Sand Hill is brief but characteristic of eastern Arkansas: a crossroads community surrounded by open acreage and shaped by the slow cycles of planting and harvest. As the road shifts slightly southward, it bends toward the next meeting with AR-33—this time the southern leg—inviting travelers either toward DeValls Bluff or deeper into the patchwork of farms that line the river valleys. We stay west, angling toward Prairie County and the broad bottoms carved by the White River.
Approaching Des Arc, the landscape begins to show more signs of settlement—scattered homes, small clusters of roadside industry, and the gentle rise of levees that hint at the river beyond. Soon the highway reaches one of its signature moments: the long bridge over the White River, where the view widens across broad, shimmering water framed by cypress and hardwood. This crossing has long been Des Arc’s gateway, connecting the town to communities eastward across the Delta. Once over the river, Highway 38 curves into the eastern edge of Des Arc, a historic river port founded in the steamboat era. We glide through quiet residential streets before the route ends at 5th Street, just blocks from the riverfront district where the past still lingers in restored buildings and local museums.
For all its short length, this drive across Highway 38 offers a concentrated look at the Delta’s character: rich soil, wide rivers, small towns with deep histories, and the quiet sense of space that comes only from miles of open farmland. It’s a route best appreciated at an easy pace—one that invites you to imagine the generations who traced these same paths long before the asphalt arrived.
🎵 Music:
We’ll Carry On
Global Genius – http://www.globalgeniusproductions.com/
Keep on Keepin’ On
Jonny Houlihan – http://jonnyhoulihan.com
Flickering Flame
Josh Woodward – https://joshwoodward.com
Back to the Center
The Poison Oaks – https://twitter.com/thepoisonoaks
🗺️ Route Map
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