About
How Calhoun County became known as "Hogskin County"
Legend has it that during the Great Depression, there were a lot of marked hogs running loose around Champagnolle Creek and the river bottoms of lower Calhoun County. During the depression money was hard to come by and food was scarce, so people from other counties surrounding Calhoun County would come to Calhoun County hog hunting. They would kill the hog and skin it in the woods. The hunters left the marked hog skin hanging on a fence or over a tree limb in the woods. They took the dressed hog back to their family for food. There were so many hog skins left in the woods that Calhoun County became known as "Hogskin County".
The name "Hogskin County" has stuck through the years. In 1992 the people of Calhoun County created a festival in honor of the legendary name. Each year during the second weekend in April, the people of Calhoun County celebrate their heritage with the "Hogskin Holidays Festival and Pork Cook-Off".
Calhoun County is proud of its rich and treasured heritage. We are the home of Lacy Fleming, MISS ARKANSAS 2004; Harry Thomason, producer of "DESIGNING WOMEN" and "EVENING SHADE"; Charles B. Pierce, producer of "THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK"; Wood Newton, Songwriter; and Goose Tatum, of the original HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS. It is also home to the LOST 40, a forty acre stand of hardwood and pine trees believed to be a remnant of the South's first forest, located in southeastern Calhoun County, near Moro Creek.
Calhoun County Courthouse