You don't have to try too hard to hear somebody equate Northwest Arkansas identity with an entrepreneurial spirit: The name's Walton, Tyson, Hunt often shared. A century before those names were known. The building of Northwest Arkansas, from frontier society to burgeoning modern region, emerged from the hands of people like Aaron Anderson.
Rock Van Winkle, a once enslaved man who was a principal of Van Winkle Mills, and his work helped build houses, homes and historic buildings across the area. Filmmaker Justin Stewart says Van Winkle's fingerprints are all over the region.
"Literally. Literally. Absolutely. Yeah. So Rock Van Winkle, arguably responsible for Northwest Arkansas as it is, as far as the blueprint, if you will. He, there are several historical buildings, homes that still have lumber from Van Winkle Mills, like the main structure. And one of those most notable buildings is Old Main at the University of Arkansas."
Tomorrow night, a new film about him, "Rock Van Winkle: Black Builder of Northwest Arkansas," will premiere at the Thaden School Performing Arts Center in Bentonville. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. The screening begins at 7 p.m.
Justin Stewart, a journalist and actor, directed the movie, his first time in that role. He says the story sort of fell into his lap during the peak COVID years, when a mentor, sociologist and educator, Jerry Moore, asked Justin what he knew about Van Winkle. Justin says he knew a little.
Moore had collaborated with Northwest Arkansas Community College history professor Chris Huggard for an essay about Van Winkle, and Moore asked Justin if he would make an audio recording of a portion of that essay. Moore and Huggard liked that recording, and Moore asked Justin.
"It'd be really neat if we could turn this into a play. And I said, well, that's a pretty good idea, right? And it just so happened that at that same time, around that same time frame, I had forged a relationship with Mike Day, who is the owner and founder of Day Vision Films. And I said, well, Jerry, it would be really cool if we could do this as a play. Yes. And we eventually did. We did do it as a play as well, a staged reading. But I said it'd be really neat if we could turn this into a historical documentary that could just, one of those things that could just live forever."
Justin Stewart had acted on stage and in front of a camera before, but he just never been behind the camera. But he did know he wanted the film to share the story of Rock Van Winkle, to honor the man's legacy and to be visually compelling.
"First, he wanted to get the facts, so we needed historians to speak on this. And so we got ahold of a short list of some historians that are local and semi-local within the region. And so I just started emailing folks, reaching out to see if anybody would be interested."
Jerry Moore and Chris Huggard, the authors of the essay, are in the film, as are Caree Banton, the chair of the University of Arkansas Department of History, and Kelly Jones, associate professor of history at Arkansas Tech University.
Justin Stewart also includes historic reenactments in the film to allow viewers to get a feel for the man Van Winkle was.
"One of the things I think it is interesting to understand about Rock. I mean, a Black man at that time, he had agency. He was very savvy when it came to business. And his name tells a lot in itself in that Rock, he was strong, he was a hard worker and he was going to get the job done."
Van Winkle timber was used for more than just homes, businesses and Old Main. In the last two decades of the 19th century, Van Winkle lumber was used in railroads that helped the area grow more.
Justin Stewart says this story, of a man who lived through being enslaved, lived through the Civil War, the war's aftermath and the turn of a new century, deserves to be shared.
"This man did this. I guess what surprised me more was the fact that, and I keep asking myself this question to this very moment, why has this story not been told before? And I'm very grateful to Jerry Moore and Dr. Chris Huggard for digging in the weeds to discover the details of this story. But yeah, it's one of those things that I'm just floored as to, this is just another one of those pieces of history that's kind of been swept under the rug for whatever reason. I mean, and I know that there are billions of other stories like this out there that haven't been told yet. But in particular, we're here living it in Northwest Arkansas. We're here walking the halls. We're going into all these buildings that, oh, probably that lumber probably came from Van Winkle Mills, and it's like, wow, it's amazing to think that this man was responsible for all of this, whether this part of history was forgotten, erased, or balances somewhere on the blurry line in between."
The new film will help share the story of Rock Van Winkle further.
"It would be really neat if this story could just eventually be embedded as a story that's told, maybe in the public schools, because the next generation needs to know. It's one of those things, it's hard to know how to move forward appropriately without understanding the past. And I just feel like this is one of those stories that stands the test of time. And I think that ultimately we just need to continue to create awareness about Rock's story, his legacy, and just how it all kind of intertwines with the region."
The screening of "Rock Van Winkle: Black Builder of Northwest Arkansas" is tomorrow night at the Thaden School Performing Arts Center in Bentonville. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. The film, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., and a panel discussion will follow. That panel will include historians Chris Huggard and Jerry Moore and be moderated by Marissa Oliver, founder of For the Hardest. There is no admission charge, but any donations will be used to support film festival submissions.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
