One Old Rock

One Old Rock. La Petite Roche Historical Walk. La Petite Roche ("the Little Rock") refers to the rock outcropping on the Arkansas River used as a navigation point during the early exploration of what would become the state of Arkansas. Sometimes called the Point of Rocks, it is the first rock on the Arkansas River as one ascends from the Mississippi. This is where the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains first touch the river, creating a natural plateau above the flood plain. The rock is sandstone, a sedimentary rock consisting of compacted particles originally deposited in a deep marine environment more than 300 million years ago, and is a part of what geologists call the Jackfork Formation. The Little Rock is the unique place where three of the state's natural divisions adjoin: the Ouachita Mountains, the coastal plain and the Mississippi alluvial plain or Delta. The junction of natural divisions here at the rock brings a diversity of plant and animal life to the area.