Prairie County is in the Central Arkansas region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The county is named for the Grand Prairie, a subregion of the Arkansas Delta known for rice cultivation and aquaculture that runs through the county. Created as Arkansas's 54th county in 1846, Prairie County is home to four incorporated towns, including DeValls Bluff, the southern district county seat, and two incorporated cities, including Des Arc, the northern district county seat. The county is also the site of numerous unincorporated communities and ghost towns. Occupying 676 square miles (175,000 ha), Prairie County is the median-sized county in Arkansas. As of the 2020 Census, the county's population was 8,282. Based on population, the county is the ninth-smallest county of the 75 in Arkansas.
Prairie County Courthouse, Des Arc
A minor bayou crosses Highway 33 and Highway 38 east of Des Arc
The Prairie County Courthouse in DeValls Bluff is the seat of county government in the southern district of the county
The Arkansas Delta is one of the six natural regions of the state of Arkansas. Willard B. Gatewood Jr., author of The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox, says that rich cotton lands of the Arkansas Delta make that area "The Deepest of the Deep South."
Rice field near Stuttgart
Lakeport Plantation in Chicot County, built ca. 1850, is one of the few remaining plantation houses in Arkansas.
Cotton fields in Poinsett County. This flat, rural landscape is typical of the Arkansas Delta
Jonesboro, the largest city in the delta region
