What to do and where to stay in Bentonville: the little-known art-filled city in the American South

P.Looking over the edge of the roof, I had barely caught a glimpse of the city before the silhouettes of two giant fish glistening on a concrete wall tore my gaze away. Watching the sunlight bounce off their silver scales, clearly designed to flutter with the breeze, was strangely hypnotic. It was an unusually warm Sunday morning in early October, and I was four stories up in a shiny glass building called the Ledger, which I had cycled up to, along wide ramps that surrounded it. I counted the art installations and tower cranes. And so far, I’ve spotted six of each.

The Ledger is one of the latest developments in Bentonville, an art-filled town, also known as a mountain biking hub, located on the edge of the Ozarks in northwest Arkansas, a little-known US state taken sandwich between Tennessee, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma. The fish, as I later discovered, were two smallmouth bass — an art installation by Stefan Sagmeister called Lakes and Rivers, a nod to Arkansas’ abundance of wildlife. It’s part of the NW Oz Art Trail, dedicated to “museum-quality art in surprising places” scattered across the northwest part of the state. And the cranes? I had read that Bentonville was often called the fastest growing city in America and that at one point it was home to more people per capita than anywhere else in the country, and I wanted to see for myself .

The boom is attributed to the Walmart supermarket chain, founded in 1962 by Sam Walton here in Bentonville, where the billion-dollar company’s headquarters is still located, and where the Walton family continues to invest. This includes the Walmart Home Office, a 140-acre campus in the spotlight and attracting newcomers, the sprawling Crystal Bridges Art Museum, and the Razorback Regional Greenway, 36 miles of bike paths on which I spent the day exploring the city in e – bike. They connect the city’s 11 communities, and Bentonville with hip college town Fayetteville in the south, home of the Razorback college football team – go pigs!

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Not, however, before a visit to the offbeat Walmart Museum Heritage Lab, located on the ground floor of The Ledger, the temporary location of the Walmart Museum while it undergoes a major renovation. It tells the story of the supermarket, including fun exhibits such as its customers’ most ridiculous reasons for returning items – and Walmart’s latest innovation: drone delivery. The new way of delivering groceries was tested here in Bentonville and is now used in 36 stores across seven U.S. states. I wondered if I would spot one during my trip.

Back on two wheels, every other cyclist I passed was equipped with a mountain bike, ready for a day on the trails. As soon as I got back on my e-bike saddle, I stopped again to admire a gleaming Fleetwood Cadillac limousine outside the luxurious 21c Museum Hotel. Covered in nickels, dimes and dimes, it was built in 1962 when the first Walton Five and Dime opened, which inspired its design. Back on the bike, I headed toward a giant airplane made of eroded copper paper; another stop on the NW Oz Art Trail called Launch Intention by Griffin Loop.

With so much stunning public art to admire up close, it took me nearly an hour to travel just 3.5 miles to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the area’s gem in the middle of ‘a major expansion scheduled for completion in 2026. It opened in 2011. by Sam Walton’s daughter, Alice, whose personal collection forms the basis of the museum. Today, it presents a snapshot of American art through the ages, including a captivating section on how the frontier shaped national identity, with evocative landscape scenes.

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Although I could have spent a whole day browsing the vast collection, lunch was another short cycle just off the greenway near The Momentary, a giant contemporary art space located in a former cheese factory. Nearby, the brightly colored Mexican restaurant Yeyo’s is popular with people eating lunch at work — many of whom wore Walmart lanyards. Here I enjoyed homemade tortilla chips and guacamole, outside on a shaded seat, across from a parking lot covered in a psychedelic mural. It appears that no ordinary public buildings in Bentonville have been discovered.

Cycling around the pretty Coler Mountain Bike Reserve after lunch, I came across a building resembling a giant open-sided concrete bunker, with some inviting, if incongruous, swings. This was the home of the local cafe, Airship, where I made a pit stop before cycling back into town. I didn’t want to be late for dinner at Junto Sushi, an upscale small-plates restaurant and new local hot spot in the funky new Motto by Hilton hotel. It’s worth a trip for a Mandalorian – a cocktail of tequila, tangerine, lime and agave – and the lobster toban yaki sizzles, all on its own.

“We call it Niceville here,” Danny Collins, founder of outdoor adventure company 37 North Expeditions, told me about the area the next day during a hike to Hawksbill Crag. , a rock overhang in the Ozark National Forest offering spectacular views. “It’s one of the most beautiful areas of the state in my opinion,” he added. “More breathtaking and peaceful than some of the trails in the larger, better-known Ozark National Park.”

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Born and raised in the Ozark area, Danny had recently returned after a few years in New York and South America, to reconnect with nature and his roots. “Growing up here, I took the natural beauty of my doorstep for granted,” he told me, which is why he’s made it his mission to show locals and visitors what there is in their garden, which he kindly introduced to me. Nervously shuffling to the edge of the rock, I looked out over the rolling valley carpeted with trees in the golden glory of autumn. It was breathtaking. And so close to town.

At the nearby Buffalo River Outdoor Center, which runs rafting and biking in the Buffalo River Valley, we ate Steel Creek sandwiches. This shady spot offers a dramatic storybook setting in the shadow of Roark Bluff, which offers a spectacular sight more than 200 feet high. “This is a quintessential Ozark activity,” Danny said. Families were spread out on picnic blankets, while children jumped into the river from a rope swing. Although we found it difficult to tear ourselves away from this bucolic scene taken from a Tom Sawyer tale, we had one more destination to reach: the Lost Valley which is home to Eden Falls, usually gushing but empty during our visit, where echoed the sound of woodpeckers calling.

Back in Bentonville at dusk, the town square was bustling with music and market stalls for First Friday, a monthly community event with a friendly, family atmosphere where people danced, bought gifts and ate food. street food. Early for dinner at Preacher’s Son, an upscale restaurant in a converted church, I had a beer at Bentonville Dive across the street. From my spot on the bustling patio where a group was setting up, I looked up and there it was. My first sighting of a Walmart drone floating in the sky while on its way to deliver groceries. And just like that, my Bentonville experience was complete.

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