Discover how Little Rock got its start with a unique, outdoor history lesson.

The city’s namesake â€" a rock outcropping in the Arkansas River that French explorers called “le Petit Rocher,” or the little rock â€" is still visible from Riverfront Park. The formation served as an important landmark during the time that the river was the city’s lifeblood.

Said to be the first rock on the river as one ascends from the Mississippi and the point where the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains first touch the river, ferries once crossed the river at the rock, and riverboats docked immediately downstream from it.

Much of the rock was removed in the name of development, and a bridge abutment now rests on it.