328. Monticello, Drew County (AR11)

Now that’s a courthouse. Especially after the last one. Admittedly, its provenance is a little late considering it was built in 1952, but that Greek (possibly Palladian) style, well, never really goes out of style, does it? I certainly don’t think so.

I immediately noticed all the sesquicentennial plaques donated by the Daughters of the Confederacy, the latest one dating to 2015. Sometimes I have trouble believing they’re still active and doing their thing. Maybe they’re not (at least I like to think they’re not) as malevolent as they once were (if you consider their older actions “malevolent” [and I do. Pushing the Lost Cause narrative was pretty bad, but effectively operating as a female booster club for the Klu Klux Klan…?]), but at this point, does anyone really need help remembering the Confederacy? I’m pretty sure everyone knows it was a thing and it hardly needs public promotion.

Right down the street is the county museum. Someone was kind enough to leave a keybox on one of these pieces of big iron out here on display. That made it really easy to get in, do my thing, and get out. The last few counties have been relatively quick like this, so this actually boded well. I might get home earlier than I thought or maybe could have time to slip in an extra county. I took to the road, again heading back toward home, and slowed to do my work in…