Two group pavilions are available seasonally. Visitors can rent fishing boats with motors and pedal boats, and fish for bass, crappie, bream and catfish in the well-stocked lakes. Swimming is available in a nearby pool. Inside the Visitor Center are exhibits on park history, geological formation, and nature. Also displayed are gifts, books, and other items for sale.
Most visitors ask about the unusual name given the mountain and the park.
Dr. Thomas William Hardison, founder of Petit Jean State Park as well as the Arkansas State Park system, wrote about the Legend of Petit Jean. The young fianc e of a French explorer and nobleman, Chavet, disguised herself as a boy so she could follow her love to the New World. She traveled as a boy during the entire ocean voyage from Paris to the Mississippi River, then to the Arkansas River. Petit Jean spent the summer fishing the streams of Arkansas, hunting the forests, and getting to know the Native Americans. Just before the explorers were to head back to Paris, she became very ill and her identity was discovered.