Few small Ozark counties can claim a figure who reached as far as Isaac Murphy. A Huntsville schoolteacher, surveyor, and lawyer, Murphy cast what may be the single most famous vote in Arkansas history and later rose to the state's highest office. His life is a significant part of Madison County's historical record.
Isaac Murphy was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 16, 1799. Educated and admitted to the bar back east, he moved west in 1834, settling first in Fayetteville in the Arkansas Territory, where he worked as a teacher, surveyor, and lawyer. In 1854 he moved to Huntsville, the seat of Madison County, and two years later the people of the area sent him to the state senate, representing Madison and Benton counties. By the time the great crisis came, Murphy was a respected, middle-aged man of the Ozark hill country.
In the spring of 1861, Arkansas held a convention to decide whether to secede from the Union. Madison County, where voters leaned Unionist, sent Murphy as its delegate. A small number of delegates had opposed the ordinance on an earlier ballot. On the final vote, taken May 6, 1861, the other holdouts changed their votes, and Murphy was the only delegate to cast a recorded vote against the ordinance of secession. According to a story long told about the convention, a woman in the gallery tossed him a bouquet of flowers.
In 1864, with much of Arkansas under Union control and with President Lincoln's approval, Isaac Murphy became the first elected governor of the reconstituted state government, running essentially unopposed. As governor during a deeply divided time, he sought a moderate course — working to ease the concerns of former Confederates, promoting public education, and urging Arkansans to rebuild after the war.
When his term ended, Murphy did not cling to power or seek higher office. At sixty-nine years old he simply went home to Huntsville. There he farmed, returned to teaching, and served as a local judge, mostly staying out of the public eye. He died in Huntsville in 1882, shortly before his eighty-third birthday, and he is buried in the county he represented.
Whatever one makes of the politics of his era, Isaac Murphy is one of the very few Madison County residents to have served as governor of Arkansas, and his life connects this rural Ozark county to one of the most consequential periods in the state's history. The next time you are on the Huntsville square, it is worth remembering that a governor of Arkansas once walked it as a neighbor.
Madison County sits in the heart of the Arkansas Ozarks, making it one of the best-kept secrets for outdoor enthusiasts in the mid-South. From floating the Kings River to hiking the Ozark Highlands Trail, there's no shortage of ways to enjoy the natural beauty here.
Read more →Huntsville's small downtown district has more to offer than you might expect. Local hardware stores, family-owned diners, farm supply shops, and specialty retailers have served Madison County for generations. Here's where to start.
Read more →Madison County has seen steady growth from families and retirees looking for a quieter life within reach of Northwest Arkansas. Whether you're coming from Fayetteville or from out of state, here's what locals wish they'd known before moving to the county.
Read more →Every October, War Eagle Mill hosts one of Arkansas's most beloved craft fairs, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the rolling hills near Hindsville. The mill itself — still grinding grain the old-fashioned way — is worth a visit any time of year.
Read more →Madison County was carved out of the Ozark wilderness in 1836, the same year settlers from Alabama gave both the county and its seat their names. Here is the long story of how this corner of northwest Arkansas came to be.
Read more →Huntsville is the county seat and the place where Madison County does its business. Here is what to know about the town at the center of it all, from the courthouse square to where to grab lunch.
Read more →The Kings River rises in the hills of southern Madison County and runs clear and wild toward Table Rock Lake. For paddlers and anglers, it is one of the great underrated rivers of the Arkansas Ozarks. Here is how to enjoy it.
Read more →Madison County is more than Huntsville. Scattered through its hills and river valleys are small communities with their own histories and characters: Kingston, Combs, Wesley, Hindsville, St. Paul, and more. Here is a tour.
Read more →Just five miles north of Huntsville, Withrow Springs State Park packs camping, hiking, swimming, and a put-in for floating War Eagle Creek into 786 acres of Ozark beauty. Here is everything to know before you go.
Read more →Madison County and the surrounding Ozark National Forest are some of the best hunting country in Arkansas, with deer, turkey, small game, and a growing bear population. Here is an orientation for hunters.
Read more →Before consolidation, nearly every Madison County community had its own school. Many of those buildings are gone now, but their stories are not. This is a living history of the county's one-room and small schools.
Read more →From spring craft fairs to the county fair to fall color and the holidays, Madison County keeps a full calendar of seasonal traditions. Here is what happens through the year, season by season.
Read more →He was born in a cabin near Combs and rose to become one of the most prominent and most debated governors in Arkansas history. The story of Orval Faubus begins right here in Madison County.
Read more →Every Ozark community has its haunted houses, its strange lights, and its tales told around the fire. Madison County is no exception. This is a gathering place for the county's legends, lore, and ghost stories.
Read more →On a cold January morning in 1863, nine men were marched from a Huntsville guardhouse to a field northeast of town and shot. The Huntsville Massacre is one of the most tragic episodes in Madison County's Civil War history, and it should not be forgotten.
Read more →Just south of Madison County, Arkansas Highway 23 corkscrews through the Boston Mountains as the Pig Trail Scenic Byway — one of the great motorcycle and leaf-peeping drives in the Ozarks. Here is what to know before you go.
Read more →Madison County is full of families who have been here for generations. If yours is one of them — or if you are tracing an ancestor who passed through — here is where to begin digging into your county roots.
Read more →One of the premier long-distance footpaths in the mid-South runs through the rugged country just south of Madison County. Whether you want a short day hike or a serious backpacking trip, the Ozark Highlands Trail is within easy reach.
Read more →Every autumn the Ozark hardwoods of Madison County put on a show. Here is when the color usually peaks, where to see it at its best, and how to plan a leaf-peeping outing in the heart of the Arkansas Ozarks.
Read more →Madison County's location in the heart of the Ozarks puts some of the region's best destinations within an easy drive. From the Buffalo River to Eureka Springs to the museums of Bentonville, here are five day trips worth taking.
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