North Little Rock, Arkansas: Old Mill Park - Concrete Wood

We visited this park on our recent vacation thanks to Roadside America's pointing it out! It seems to be officially referred to as "Old Mill" park (that's what the blue signs pointing you to it say at least) - but we did notice a sign when we were at the park that says "Pugh's Mill" (seems the park founder named the mill after a friend of his). Someone was taking wedding portraits while we were there -- nice day, very beautiful spot.

Pugh's Mill Park [The Old Mill Park] was built in 1933 by Justin Matthews. The mill was designed to appear as if it been built in 1800s Arkansas and features sculptures by the famous Mexican artist Senor Dionicio Rodriguez (1893-1955). The Mill is made largely from tinted concrete applied over steel and copper foundations and made to represent wood, iron, and stone. Rodriguez, who spoke no English, was very secretive about his plaster techniques. He called his art "el trabajo rustico" -- rustic work. He lived in San Antonio, TX and his work can be found throughout that city, including the pagoda-like entry gate to the Japanese Sunken Gardens, park benches and a covered foot bridge in Brackenridge Park. His San Antonio work was commissioned by Charles Baumberger, president of the San Antonio Portland Cement Company. Rodriguez also created the Crystal Shrine Grotto in Memphis. His sculptures are now considered rare works of art. Pugh's Mill can be seen briefly in the opening scenes of the 1939 movie classic Gone With The Wind.

About 7 miles north of town, there's a park, Old Mill Park, that has an old stone millhouse surrounded by a garden and a millpond. In the garden there are benches hewn from trees, a gazebo made from twining vines, a beautiful arching stone and wood bridge, wooden plank walkways, and a beam sticking out of the house with rope and pulley. Except for the stones in the house and the flowers, everything you see is made from cement! And yet it's so realistic even touching it doesn't always convince you. Luckily there are strategic spots where the rebar shows. Even the rope and pulley are made of cement! I was told by someone at the visitors bureau that this pond was used in the opening sequence in Gone With The Wind. It's quite unusual. Several times while passing through Arkansas I've gone out of my way to see it.