Sunken Lands Cultural Roadway-Great River Road

This is a driving route that is an official loop off the Great River Road National Scenic Byway.  It begins and ends in Mississippi County, but travels through towns in Poinsett County as well.  (There also is a slightly modified suggested cycling version of this route that begins in Poinsett County.) 

The Sunken Lands Cultural Roadway includes towns in the area created from the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-12. A series of shocks between December 1811 and February 1812 dropped land as much as 50 feet into the earth and created huge lakes such as Big Lake in Arkansas and Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. This area, strung out over 30 miles along the St. Francis River Floodway, became nationally famous as a hunting and fishing area some 100 years ago. The many cultural highlights include the Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, and part of the set from John Grisham's "A Painted House," relocated to Lepanto where portions of the movie version were filmed. (Grisham is from the area.)

Directions (Click on "Visit Website" for Map):

Depart The Great River Road main route via SH 14 at Wilson and travel west to Dyess and Lepanto.

Depart Lepanto via SH 135 south, to SH 308. Take SH 308 west, then south to Marked Tree.

From Marked Tree, travel south on SH 149, then east on SH 322 and north on SH 118 to Tyronza.

Continue north, then east on SH 118 from Tyronza to rejoin the Great River Road at Joiner.