Mountain View is a small town of about 3,000 people in the Ozark Mountains of north-central Arkansas, and it calls itself the "Folk Music Capital of the World" with some justification. Music is everywhere here -- on the courthouse square on weekend evenings, at the Ozark Folk Center, and in impromptu jam sessions on front porches.
The Ozark Folk Center State Park is the main attraction, a living-history park dedicated to preserving Ozark mountain crafts and music. Artisans demonstrate traditional skills -- blacksmithing, broom-making, candle-dipping, lye soap -- and the concert hall hosts live folk and bluegrass performances most evenings. The park also has accommodation and a restaurant serving Ozark-style cooking.
The surrounding countryside is classic Ozark scenery: forested hills, clear spring-fed creeks, and limestone bluffs. Blanchard Springs Caverns, a spectacular show cave managed by the Forest Service, is about fifteen miles north. The town sits on the banks of the White River watershed, and float trips on the nearby rivers are popular in summer.