Rush Historic District - North Central Arkansas

Today marks the first day of Spring! Finally! Well, it's pretty much been like Spring all Winter here in the Ozarks, but it's nice to say that it's really Spring now.
To celebrate, and to take advantage of the summer time temps that would be upon the area today, I took a road trip down to the ghost town of Rush, Arkansas. This has been on my bucket list for quite some time, and I wanted to get out of the house for the day, so I took off in my car South.
The trip was less than a 2 hour drive to my destination, and well worth it. From Harrison, I took Highway 62 East, and stopped in each little town along the way to see if there was any surprises to photograph. Once I hit Yellville, I took Highway 14 South to the road 6035, which 5 miles later took me to Rush, Arkansas.
Nestled deep in the valley, Rush Historic District is a part of the Buffalo National River, and dates back to the 1880's as a zinc mining region of Northern Arkansas.

What you see of the structures, buildings, and ruins at Rush today is the last visible remains of the historic zinc mining activity in Arkansas. At its peak, there was 10 mining companies operating 13 developed mines within the Rush Creek Mines District, more than any other mining districts in the North Arkansas Lead and Zinc District.

The district includes ruins dating from 1880 to 1940.

The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

My next stop was further down Highway 62 in Cotter, Arkansas. The first thing I seen that absolutely blew my mind was the Cotter Bridge, a 6 span rainbow arch bridge that crosses the White River, and takes you into Cotter if you're heading Eastward. I must of crossed it 3 times, and even took a video while driving across. I'll post the video soon! Once I had my fill, I went down to the park that runs along the river, as well as around and under the bridge, and to the White River Railroad Bridge that also runs across the river from Cotter.

One of the spans from the Cotter Bridge reminds me of the Rainbow Bridge near Baxter Springs, Kansas. I fell in love with this view!

When I left Cotter at noon, it was already in the upper 80's. Not bad for the first day of Spring! From Cotter, I kept Eastward along 62 to Mountain Home, Arkansas where I took Highway 5 back North to Missouri. I stopped at the Arkansas - Missouri border to snap a few pictures....

I took Highway 5 North to U.S. Highway 60, which I took back home. Not bad for an late morning, early afternoon road trip in the Ozarks!