La Petite Roche Historical Walk

Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe was the first
European explorer to record the existence of a large
rocky bluff on the north bank of the Arkansas River.
According to his journal, La Harpe named it le Rocher
Français ("the French Rock") on April 9, 1722. It
later became known as the Big Rock. The French
referred to the smaller outcropping on the south bank
as le Petit Rocher ("the Little Rock"). The name first
appeared on a 1799 French map of the area. The first
official reference to Little Rock occurred in the Treaty
of 1818, indicating the northernmost point of the
Quapaw reservation. An August 20, 1822, article in
the Arkansas Gazette described the rock: "It projects
several feet into the river, forming below it a fine basin
for boats, and its top reaches perhaps about midway
between low water mark and the summit of the bank
of the river. The name Little Rock was given to it by
the aborigines or the early white settlers of the county
to distinguish it from the Big Rock." In the 1950s, la
Petite Roche became the accepted spelling based on
local scholar Samuel D. Dickinson's suggestion.

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Show me all markers in:  Little Rock, AR  |  Pulaski County  |  72201  |  Arkansas  |  United States of America

A Piece of the Rock, a Piece of History
One Old Rock
The "Little Rock" Historical
Witness to Removal
Smaller Rock, Big Bridge
It is River City
The Point of Rocks
Arkansas in the Civil War
River Traffic
The Little Rock Campaign - Riverfront Park

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