Do you remember Watergate and the following events that took the country by storm?  If you don’t then you really should go study the history of the Nixon Administration and see what occurred that make Martha Beal Mitchell a household name.  Martha Mitchell was one that chose to speak her mind and to not allow the political spin masters to get away with not telling the American people the truth about what was really going on in Washington D.C.

She was born in the house that was built by her maternal grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. C. M. Fergusson.  Mr. Fergusson established one of the first wholesale grocery firms in the area and was very successful.  Martha was born in 1918 in this very house.

She grew up and graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1936.  She kept the house full of friends and noise while growing up.  They played in the playhouse that was out back of the house.  This playhouse had hardwood floors and was a great place for the girls to play. Following her graduation from Pine Bluff High School she attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.  When she returned home from college WWII was about to begin and she went to work at the Pine Bluff Arsenal to help with the war effort.

She later moved to Washington, D.C. where she met and married John Mitchell who was to become the Attorney General for President Richard W. Nixon.  This put Martha into the spotlight during the Watergate Affair.  Because of her willingness to keep the American people informed as to what the President and his staffers were doing she talked to the media regularly.  When they didn’t call her she called them.  The Nixon administration didn’t want what they were doing to make the national press, but Martha persisted and headlines were made.

The Watergate scandal was an American political scandal during the presidency of Richard Nixon that resulted in the indictment and conviction of several of Nixon’s closest advisors, and ultimately in the resignation of the President himself, on August 9, 1974.  The whole affair had begun with the break in at the Watergate Office complex in Washington, DC on June 17, 1972.  It was proven that this was one of many illegal activities authorized and carried out by Nixon’s staff.  Nixon resigned from the office of President of the United States, becoming the only U.S. president to have resigned from office.

Martha Beall Mitchell was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1970 and later on the cover of New York magazine.  She was dubbed "the Mouth of the South" when she began contacting reporters when the roll her husband, John Mitchell, became known to her.  Richard Nixon claimed, during an interview with David Frost in September 1977, that "if it hadn’t been for Martha Mitchell, there’d have been no Watergate."  In that regard, we owe Martha Beall Mitchell a great deal of thanks for having the courage to stand up for what she believed was right and just for the American people.

The Mitchell’s divorced in 1973 and in 1976 Martha died from advanced myeloma.  She is buried in the Bellwood Cemetery in Pine Bluff.

The home Martha grew up in has been restored and entered into the National Register of Historic Places.
 

Martha Beall Mitchell Birthplace – Pine Bluff, Arkansas is a post from: Arkansas Tourism

The museum is actually a restored 1902 jail. Ironically, the man who built the jail was also its first inmate. Because it is in an old jail, it adds even more interest to the tour of the exhibits. Those who visit the museum will find a number of items, including some that were recently acquired, that date all the way back to when the town of Foreman was known to all as Rocky Comfort.

People who visit the museum will be able to see quite a few impressive documents and artifacts used by the very people who once lived in the city. The museum has a very personal feel to it, which makes a visit a very intimate experience. Guests get to see how it really was to live in the little town over the years.

You can even learn about all of the other identities the town has gone through. Originally, the area was called Willow Springs and later took the name Rocky Comfort because, while it had a rocky terrain, was also a place of comfort. In the latter part of the 1800s, the town began to expand and became New Rocky Comfort. In 1900, when the first post office came into town, they decided they wanted a shorter name to transact mail. Thus, it became Foreman – although the name wasn’t legally changed until 1959!

You will be able to learn a bit about all of the different eras of Rocky Comfort/Foreman, as well as the people who made them interesting.

Of course, there are other things to do in the friendly little town as well. You can grab a bite to eat and then head off to some nearby trails, where you can hike, hunt, or fish. You will be able to find places in the region to stay as well, so that you can take advantage of not only the museum but the surrounding lands as well.

Foreman, Arkansas is a small town, but it has a lot of interesting history. If you are in the area of Foreman, you should stop by the New Rocky Comfort Museum and learn about the area’s past.  Foreman is also the hometown of country singer Tracy Lawrence and Broadway performer Lawrence Hamilton.

New Rocky Comfort Museum
3rd Street at Schuman
Foreman, Arkansas
870-542-7887

New Rocky Comfort Museum – Foreman, Arkansas is a post from: Arkansas Tourism

Restaurants, microbreweries, golf and lodging are all abundantly available through out the state.  Resorts and spas allow sophisticated access to the natural spring waters and thermal waters of Hot Springs National Park.

Arkansas is also known as wine country with various vineyards and wine tours that can take you back through history and times long past of the old wild west.

Arkansas Vacation is a post from: Arkansas Tourism