Talimena Scenic Drive - Arkansas
Queen Wilhelmina State Park, AR

Resting atop Arkansas' second highest peak, Rich Mountain, The Queen Wilhelmina Lodge has a long history. The original "Castle in the Sky" was built on top of the peak in the late 1890s and named for the newly crowned Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. The luxurious hotel, built by the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad Company, was meant as an enticement for people to travel the new north-south railroad. Unfortunately the inn's heyday was short-lived. With the sale of the railroad to new owners, the inn was abandoned and languished in disrepair and ruin for several decades until an act of the Arkansas Senate created a new state park on the site of the old inn in 1957. The second incarnation of the inn opened in 1963 but was completely destroyed by fire only ten years later. The lodge was rebuilt a third time, and its current incarnation opened in 1975.

The new Queen Wilhelmina Lodge is the focal point of Queen Wilhelmina State Park, but it is not the only attraction. The park also boasts an amphitheater, playground, campground, modern bathhouse, and hiking trails. Visitors can also enjoy the miniature railroad, miniature golf course, and the Arkansas Native Plant and Wildlife Center, a rehabilitation center for species native to Arkansas.