Beaver Bridge

In northwest Arkansas, just seven miles north of the tourist town of Eureka Springs, tiny Beaver, Arkansas, with a population of 67, is home to the last drivable suspension bridge in the state. 

Though small, the town played a big role historically in supplying necessary stone to Eureka Springs, among other area towns, for the construction of many buildings that still stand today, like the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa. A critical vessel for that transport across the rushing White River was Beaver Bridge. 

Built originally as a cement bridge in the 1920s, the current wire-cable bridge was commissioned in 1944 and built by the Pioneer Construction Company, based in Malvern. Completed in 1949, its mid-century nostalgia led to it being featured in the 2005 movie Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, and Susan Sarandon. 

Today, along Highway 187, the wooden-planked, one-lane bridge is known as the “Little Golden Gate” or the “Golden Gate of the Ozarks” due to its scalloped-style wire cables. Beaver Bridge, however, is painted yellow, unlike the San Francisco bridge’s signature International Orange.