Council Oaks Park

A short distance south of Dardanelle Rock is the Council Tree. A huge white oak, estimated to be 400-500 years old is said to be the site of the signing of a document referred to as the “Treaty of Council Oaks.”  (At the time of the signing, there were two oaks, but one died in the early 1990s).

On June 24, 1823, Acting Governor Robert Crittenden of the Arkansas Territory met with a group of Arkansas Cherokee to work out a land agreement that would allow settlers to move into the western part of the state. Previous treaties had provided substantial territory in Arkansas and Oklahoma to the tribe in exchange for lands they were driven from in the East. Although land south of the Arkansas River technically belonged to the Choctaw, over 1,000 Cherokee occupied prime farm lands along the river tributaries. Meeting with Cherokee leaders including John Jolly, Black Fox, and Wat Webber, the group actually had little or no authority to construct a treaty but were able to dictate a letter presenting their respective cases to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun. The Cherokee agreed that the land south of the river was not theirs or the U.S. but, instead belonged to the Choctaw, who didn’t care one way or another whether it was occupied by Cherokee. The U.S. Government at the time wanted to see all land opened up to white settlement and in subsequent years worked out a series of treaties pushing the Cherokee and the Choctaw completely into Oklahoma territory. A nice park was constructed around the tree commemorating the event.​—Curtis Varnell