Our Arklahoma Heritage: Tourist camp on US Highway 65 in Boone County hosted weary travelers in the Ozarks

Tucked along U.S. Highway 65 in Boone County, Arkansas, the Bear Creek Motel stands as an enduring symbol of America’s road trip era.

Built in 1936 by J.R. Crawford, this T-shaped, stone-and-concrete motel, with its iconic wave-like roof, once welcomed travelers seeking rest in the heart of the Ozarks.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2001, the motel--now closed--captures a slice of Arkansas’s highway culture, its story shaped by fire, vision, and reinvention.

In 1935, a fire destroyed Crawford’s wood-framed tourist cabins on the east side of Highway 65 in the rural Bear Creek Springs community.

Determined to rebuild smarter, he relocated his rental business to the edge of the Dry Fork of Bear Creek, choosing a scenic spot that also served as a natural fire barrier.

The new Bear Creek Motel, constructed entirely of reinforced concrete and local fieldstone, was designed to last. Its five guest rooms and office offered a rustic yet modern retreat, with a large concrete swimming pool added in the 1950s for recreation.

The motel’s standout feature--a wave-shaped concrete roof--was a clever gimmick to catch the eye of motorists heading to Branson, Missouri, or Dogpatch USA.

From 1936 to the 1960s, the motel thrived as a “tourist court,” offering affordable lodging to families and travelers along Highway 65, a key Midwest-to-South route.

By the 1960s, many rooms shifted to weekly or monthly rentals as travel patterns changed. In 1967,

Ralph Bowers bought the property from Rex and Bobbie Kathleen Villines after it had sat vacant for a few years. Bowers transformed the motel into the Yellow Rose Flea Market, renting out rooms as vendor booths.

By 2001, when Sarah Pope applied for NRHP status, the motel was still operating as a flea market

Today, the Bear Creek Motel no longer functions as a flea market or motel, standing silent along Highway 65. Its wave-like roof still beckons passersby, a reminder of a time when family-run motels were havens for road-weary travelers.

The NRHP listing, prepared by Amy Bennett of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, underscores its local significance.

For now, the motel remains a testament to J.R. Crawford’s vision and Arkansas’s roadside heritage, its story etched in stone and the hum of the highway.