Bentonville

About Bentonville

Few small towns have been reshaped as completely as Bentonville. In 1950 Sam Walton opened a variety store on the town square, the company that grew from it is still headquartered here, and his family's investments have turned a quiet Ozark county seat into one of the most talked-about art and cycling destinations in the South.

The centerpiece is Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a free museum designed by Moshe Safdie around spring-fed ponds in a wooded ravine, with a relocated Frank Lloyd Wright house on its grounds. A short ride away, The Momentary fills a former cheese factory with contemporary art and music. Back on the square, the original Walton's 5&10 now holds the Walmart Museum and an old-fashioned soda fountain.

Bentonville also calls itself a mountain biking capital: purpose-built trails like Slaughter Pen and Coler run straight from downtown into the forest, and the Razorback Greenway links the town to Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville. Food halls, coffee roasters and farm-to-table restaurants round out a weekend.