Pocahontas and Randolph County

Pocahontas, Arkansas, began as an early settlement known as Bettis Bluff. The name Pocahontas appears to have first been used in 1836 when the town was chosen as the county seat of the new Randolph County. The area's rivers played a significant role in the county's development, with the first steamboat arriving in Bettis Bluff in 1829. Pocahontas flourished following the Civil War due to the growing lumber industry, which cleared vast forested areas, allowing for an agricultural economy. Th...