Hope Train Depot

Hope, Arkansas

It was in 1994, Bill Clinton was our Nation’s President.  We were in Arkansas, so we took a side trip to the town of Hope, Arkansas, which was the birthplace of the 42nd President.  There was a festival that was very popular to the area, where we could sell my paintings and prints.  It was the “Hope Watermelon Festival”.

As we drove around the town, I took pictures of his boyhood home, the school he attended and of course, the train depot.  Train Depots are always popular prints.  I decided to paint the depot and have it available for the festival several months later.  As I remember, it took place on July 4th.  Even Good Morning America was televised from there.

The temperature was 105 degrees and they had semi loads of nice cold watermelon, cut longways into quarters and sold for 25 cents.   I think it was the best watermelon I have ever tasted.  I must have had a couple of dollars-worth.

The depot has become one of the items in my Depot print set, which features four of my paintings. Other train depots I have painted are:  Cartersville, GA Depot,    Germantown, OH Depot,    Elkhart, IN Depot and the famous Whistle Stop Depot, Juliette, GA.