Keep rolling on ‘Scenic 70’ to Glenwood, Ark. – it’s midway

Continuing to explore opportunities to promote travel and tourism along “Scenic 70” (old U.S. Route 70), we arrive in Glenwood, Ark., the midway point of the 100-year-old highway that connects the village of Atlantic in the Down East section of Carteret County to Globe, Ariz.

 

Glenwood, with a population of about 2,015, is in Pike County, about 30 miles west of Hot Springs in the southwestern quadrant of Arkansas.

The community is “nestled in a bend of the Caddo River with spectacular views of Arkansas’ Ouachita Mountains,” which rise to a maximum elevation of 2,753 feet. (Ouachita is pronounced as WAH-she-taw.)

 

This area developed a reputation for having one of the “best stands of timber in all of Arkansas,” and several lumber companies were formed to harvest the trees.

Local businessmen Curt Hays and Will Fagan platted the town site on both sides of the train depot. They chose the name “Glenwood” to honor the lush valley (combining “glen” and “wood”). The community was chartered in 1909.

 

Today, the Caddo River is a popular destination for recreational canoeing, kayaking, tubing, fishing and camping.

Pike County is the home of the world-famous Crater of Diamonds, a popular state park. It’s only a hop, skip and a jump off Route 70, heading west beyond Glenwood.

 

Grant Mobley, who is affiliated with the Natural Diamond Council in New York City, said: “The Crater of Diamonds was created by a 95-million-year-old volcanic crater. Unlike most diamond deposits, which form in kimberlite rock, the crater’s diamonds occur in lamproite, an equally ancient volcanic rock type. These diamonds formed more than a billion years ago deep within the Earth’s mantle.”

“Over millions of years, volcanic eruptions and erosion have brought many diamonds up to the surface, making them findable without industrial-scale mining,” Mobley said. “Visitors can simply walk in with a shovel, sifting screen or even just their hands, and if they find a diamond, it’s theirs to keep.”

“Decades of attempts to mine the site profitably failed,” he said, “and in 1972, the land was sold to the state and transformed into a public park.” 

The old mine shaft remains as an artifact.

 

Last summer, Micherre Fox, 31, of New York City came to the Crater of Diamonds to do some prospecting, in hopes of finding a diamond to seal her engagement to Trevor Ballou.

 

Mobley reported that Fox “struck pay dirt on her final day” of a three-week excursion, “uncovering a beautiful 2.30-carat colorless diamond that she has since turned into the ultimate personal treasure – her engagement ring.”

“On that last day, while scanning the dusty, sunlit field, something caught her eye. At first, she thought it was a dew-covered spider web,” Mobley said. “Upon closer inspection, it revealed itself as a gem glinting in the Arkansas sun.”

 

“The park’s gemologists confirmed her instincts: this Arkansas diamond was one of the largest diamonds recovered there in 2025.”

 

Moving on, Route 70 crosses from Arkansas into southern Oklahoma, and the highway passes through Broken Bow, Idabel and Fort Towson, Okla., before arriving in Hugo – a good place for a ceremonial pit stop.

Hugo was once the headquarters of the U.S. Route 70 Highway Association (in the 1950s)...and here's the outside cover of the map to prove it.

 

The city was formed in 1901 and designated as the county seat for Choctaw County, Okla., when the railroad came through. 

Hugo takes its name from French author Victor Hugo, whose famous works include “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” (1831) and “Les Misérables” (1862).

 

(Hugo was the favorite writer of Lina Burford Darrough, wife of Arkansas and Choctaw Railroad surveyor William Harrison Darrough.)

Hugo is known as “Circus City USA” – another story for the “Scenic 70” journal.

Hear ye: U.S. Route 70 deserves some respect

Route 66 shouldn’t get to have all the fun.

“Scenic 70” deserves some love as well, according to Marvin Bullock, who is on a mission to see that U.S. Route 70 gets some recognition as it observes its 100-year anniversary in 2026.

 

Bullock’s “project” was first reported by Towndock.net, an online newsletter based in Oriental, N.C.

Bullock is a former resident of this Pamlico County community where the Neuse River becomes the Pamlico Sound. He retired in 2023 as president of the Sparta-White County Chamber of Commerce in Sparta, Tenn.

Sparta is a small city with about 4,975 residents located on Route 70 about midway between the major metropolitan areas of Knoxville and Nashville.

Traveling the full length of Route 70, about 2,385 miles from the village of Atlantic in Carteret County to Globe, Ariz., has been on Bullock’s bucket list for a long time. 

But he’s also taken an interest in serving as an ambassador to promote “the tourism, revitalization and preservation of Route 70” during the highway’s centennial year.

Bullock said he would like to see the “U.S. government recognize the uniqueness of one of the first paved highways” from the East Coast into the Great American Southwest.

U.S. Route 70 was once dubbed “The Hospitality Route to Disneyland” by the Bishop Printing & Litho Co. of Portales, N.M.

In the mid-1950s, the company published and distributed a stylized “coast-to-coast map postcard” that highlighted the highway as a “scenic, all-paved route from North Carolina to California.” Indeed, that was the case early on in the highway’s history.

Bishop Printing & Litho discontinued operation in the late 1980s. Portales is a city of about 11,660 people situated on Route 70, about 30 miles from Texico and the Texas border.

“By getting chambers of commerce along the route together, we can start lobbying to specifically advertise Route 70 as ‘Scenic 70,’” Bullock said. 

“Route 66 almost vanished more than once. Now, it’s a destination for people to go…just to travel on Route 66.”

“Route 70 is already well known amongst motorcycle and bicycle enthusiasts as the preferred transcontinental highway,” Bullock said.

Once travelers arrive in Sparta, Tenn., Bullock suggests they pull off the highway and see the sights.

Sparta claims to be “Bluegrass USA,” as the hometown of several bluegrass music legends. 

The most notable was Lester Raymond Flatt, a vocalist, guitarist and mandolinist. 

He was best known for his collaboration with banjo picker Earl Scruggs of Flint Hill in Cleveland County, N.C.

 

Performing as Flatt and Scruggs, the duo was joined by the Foggy Mountain Boys, resulting in one of the most successful bands in bluegrass music history, spanning approximately 20 years.

Bluegrass fiddler Benny Edward Martin also grew up in Sparta. He performed for a time with Flatt and Scruggs and is credited with inventing the eight-string fiddle. Nicknamed “the Big Tiger,” Martin typified “country stompin’” music, with his enthusiastic fiddling while dancing around on stage.

 

Other members of Sparta’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame are Bill Jones, John Henry Demps, Blake Williams and Josh Swift.

White County offers more caves, waterfalls and scenic overlooks per square mile than anywhere else in the United States. 

The chamber recommends that everyone journey about 12 miles northwest of Sparta to visit the spectacular Burgess Falls on the Falling Water River, named for the first settler in these parts, Tom Burgess. The Burgess family cut lumber and operated a grist mill above the falls.

Burgess Falls is most noted for its scenic value as the Falling Water River drops nearly 250 feet over three waterfalls. The last of these falls is the most spectacular and begins where the water plunges more than 130 feet into a gorge below. Protruding rocks halfway down break the curtain of water and spread a mist around the base of the falls.

 

With more than 100 miles of paddleable river water, including “world-class whitewater and serene flat water,” White County is also an “adventure tourism destination.”

 

“Scenic 70” just may catch on…adding a contemporary twist to the highway’s early marketing thrust. 

The U.S. Highway 70 Association began promoting the road in 1951 as “America’s Treasure Trail.”

 

Masters’ ‘green jacket’ is an iconic sports prize

Golf’s Masters Tournament, played annually in Augusta, Ga., awards its champion one of the most recognizable prizes in sports: the “green jacket.”

 

American golfing legend Bobby Jones got the idea when was competing in 1930 at The Open at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake in Merseyside, on England’s west coast, overlooking the Irish Sea.

 

During one of the ceremonial meals, Jones was seated next to Kenneth Stoker, the immediate past captain of the club.

Hoylake historian Joe Pinnington said: “All the former captains were wearing their formal red coats. 

 

Jones was fascinated by it. Stoker said to him: ‘Mr. Jones, if you win the tournament this week, I’ll give you my coat.’”

Of course, Jones won and got the red coat…along with the coveted sterling silver Claret Jug.

 

Bobby Jones’ red jacket is on permanent display at his home club, the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga., in the “Hoylake Room.”

When Jones collaborated with Clifford Roberts to form Augusta National Golf Club in 1933, he pitched the idea of members’ jackets. 

The colors red, yellow and “Georgia peach” were floated, but the club eventually settled on the “verdant green displayed by the azalea bushes.”

 

The precise color is known as “Masters Green” (PMS 342) on the Pantone Matching System, a standard used by graphic designers and printers to ensure uniformity in color.

By 1937, every Augusta National member attending the Masters donned a snappy, woolen green jacket.

With his win in 1949, Sam Snead became the first Masters champion to be awarded a green jacket. All past champions dating back to 1934 were retroactively given one as well.

 

Today’s green jackets are made from a tropical-weight woolen fabric woven at the Victor Forstmann Inc. textile mill in Dublin, Ga. The stamped brass buttons are produced by Waterbury Button Company, now based in Chester, Conn. The breast-pocket patch comes from A-B Emblem Company of Weaverville, N.C.

The jackets are custom-made by Hamilton Tailoring Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Here, the winner’s name is also embroidered on the inside lining. Each jacket costs approximately $250 to make.

The club has jackets of various sizes on standby for winners, and one of these jackets is presented to the tournament winner during the ceremony that occurs at the legendary Butler Cabin. The ceremonial jacket eventually gets swapped out for a customized jacket that is sized specifically for the winner.

When they register, players are requested to include their proper jacket size. The champion gets to wear his green jacket whenever he chooses for a year-long “victory lap.” 

But then, he is supposed to return the jacket to the clubhouse for storage in a “climate-controlled cloakroom,” along with those of all other past champions.

If a player becomes a “repeat champion,” officials pull out his original jacket from the racks and reuse it.

When Tiger Woods won his first green jacket in 1997, he was 21, the youngest champion in tournament history. He purposefully ordered a jacket that was too large. 

He told reporters that he had heard stories from other Masters’ champions that over time, the jackets “shrink” while “resting within the cedar-lined vault.”

South Africa’s Gary Player created a bit of a flap in 1962, when as defending Masters champion, he “forgot” to bring his green jacket back to Augusta. 

Player received a telephone call later from golf club co-founder Clifford Roberts reminding him of “protocol.”

 

Player responded: “Well, Mr. Roberts, if you want it, why don’t you come and fetch it?” Roberts came up with a “compromise” with Player, instructing him: “Don’t wear it in public.”

 

 More Masters’ golf-related stories of interest:

Suppliers are prohibited from discussing their contracts with The Masters Tournament, which is hosted by Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club.

A-B Emblem Company of Weaverville, N.C., has fully complied.

Kudos to the company, which was selected as a “Small Business of the Year” in 2025 by Business North Carolina magazine. The company’s primary business is manufacturing embroidered patches and insignia, including the Masters’ emblem sewn of the legendary green jackets.

A-B’s largest customers are the U.S. military and NASA. A relatively new client is the United States Space Force (USSF), established in 2019, as the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, focused on securing national interests in, from and to space.

 Space Force “Guardians” (personnel) manage GPS, missile warning systems and satellite communications, providing essential capabilities to joint military operations. As a unit of the U.S. Air Force, the Space Force motto is “Semper Supra” – “Always Above.”

A-B Emblem is a family-owned business, employing about 100 people.

E. Henry Conrad founded the company in 1941 near the Hudson River in West New York, N.J. He named the company in honor of his children, “Annerose” and “Bernhard” (he went by Bernie).

Conrad relocated the entire operation to Weaverville in Buncombe County, N.C. (north of Asheville), in 1963, which provided a “better business climate for future growth,” removed from the pressures of an urban environment.

Principal owners today are Paul Conrad and Lisbeth Nagle, grandchildren of Henry Conrad. Lisbeth’s husband, Andrew Nagle, and Paul Conrad have been co-CEOs since 2017.

Kevin Ellis, managing editor at Business North Carolina, quoted Lisbeth Nagle: “We want to leave the company stronger for the next generation.”

“She finds inspiration daily as she walks past her grandfather’s photograph in the business office,” Ellis wrote. She says: “Opa (German for grandfather), I hope we make you proud.”

 

Paul Conrad (left) with Lizbeth and Andrew Nagle of A-B Emblem

So, what’s the significance of the Butler Cabin at Augusta National Golf Club?

The facility was constructed in 1964 and named after Thomas Butler, a member at Augusta at the time. He was a regular playing partner of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Eisenhower joined the club in 1948, five years before occupying the White House and remained a member until his death in 1969.

The club built the Eisenhower Cabin in 1953, a seven-room cabin for him and his wife, Mamie, near the 10th tee. He frequently used the property as a retreat.

 

The Butler Cabin is much smaller. Each year, the Butler Cabin is transformed into a TV studio during the Masters. At other times, the Butler and Eisenhower cabins and 10 others on the grounds are available as rentals to members and their guests.

One of the cherished landmarks on the course was a century-old, giant loblolly pine that stood on the 17th hole, approximately 210 yards from the tee on the left side of the fairway.

While playing the course, Eisenhower hit the tree so many times that, at a 1956 club meeting, he proposed that it be cut down. 

(Eisenhower served as U.S. president from 1953-61). Club chair Clifford Roberts adjourned the meeting rather than reject the president’s request. From that point forward, the tree was known as “Eisenhower’s Tree.”

Shortly thereafter, bumper stickers began to appear: “Ben Hogan for President. If We’re Going to Have a Golfer – Let’s Have a Good One!”

Eisenhower wasn’t terrible at golf; his handicap hovered between 14 and 18 his entire life.

In 2014, the Eisenhower Tree was removed from Augusta National after suffering extensive damage during a major ice storm. 

Club chair Billy Payne reported: We obtained opinions from the best arborists available and…were advised that no recovery was possible.”