The Summit Park Trail began as a footpath to Fern Lake, a recreation facility for hotel guests of the Summit Park Hotel. The path was later made into a more elaborate trail by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s and then restored and improved in 1976.
The trail begins near the site of the once famous Summit Park Hotel, a resort built in 1889 to accommodate 300 guests. Recreation activities offered to guests included bicycling, horseback riding, bowling, dancing, boating, and hiking. The Summit Park Trail is moderate to strenuous, and there are 12 historical points of interest along the trail.
After the hotel burned in 1918 there was little interest in Mount Nebo until it was made a State Park in 1928. Mount Nebo State Park is the second oldest in the Arkansas State Park System. It is about 1,800 feet above sea level and affords breathtaking views of the Arkansas River Valley.
