Mount Sequoyah Overlook

Project for Public Spaces worked with the Mount Sequoyah Center to connect a beautiful vantage point to the rest of Mount Sequoyah’s grounds through improved pedestrian safety and visitor experience.

The Overlook at Mount Sequoyah Center offers a peaceful vantage point gazing over Fayetteville, Arkansas’ cityscape. The spot had been used mainly for parking until 2020, when the Center added seating and some greenery, unveiling its greater potential as a welcoming spot for community gatherings or sunset watching. Mount Sequoyah's campus was already a community hub, where many artists use subsidized studio space and arts organizations and nonprofits use exhibition and performance venues. Mount Sequoyah also hosts children's camp programs, swim programs, and an annual music performance series. 

While the Center originated as a religious entity, it has been operating as an independent nonprofit since 2016. Still, many in the community were not aware that the public is welcome to enjoy the center and its surrounding grounds. As the Mount Sequoyah Center approached its 100th anniversary, Project for Public Spaces awarded them a Community Placemaking Grant to help make the space more welcoming and easier to activate with public-facing programming. 

A major destination for the whole community and easily spotted from the city below due to its brightly lit historic cross, the Overlook was also known for parked cars, a narrow street, and a lack of sidewalks. There wasn’t a clear way to safely enjoy the view and the area was too small to host or connect with the Center’s programming. The clear focus for our work was to better connect the historic Overlook with the rest of Mount Sequoyah's grounds by improving pedestrian safety and visitor experience. 

The Placemaking Process

In June of 2023, the Project for Public Spaces team visited the Mount Sequoyah campus for a series of focus groups and a workshop to hear from staff, artists, neighbors, and other community stakeholders about their onsite experience. Our workshop explored the site in person and accessed how visitors may walk from on-campus parking to the Overlook. These conversations led to ideas about expanding the space, adding seating, and creating programming, with consideration of neighboring residents. We also discussed ways to connect programming from the Overlook to Mount Sequoyah’s lawn and Young Lodge to encourage Overlook visitors to explore the rest of what the Center has to offer. Long-term plans were explored to add signage, painted “sidewalk” designations, and traffic measures to slow car speeds for overall safety.  

In collaboration with the local working group, we focused on a plan to expand the space by working with local fabricator Natural State Treehouses to customize an expanded platform over the existing slope. These plans for improving the site were also leveraged to help secure funding for the maintenance and upgraded lighting system for the historic cross through the Fayetteville Restoration Endowment at the Arkansas Community Foundation, and additional support from the Sprague Foundation and Cox Communications. The new Overlook also featured custom artistic benches by one of Mount Sequoyah’s own resident-artists, Eugene Sargent.

The Reveal

In May 2025, the Mount Sequoyah Overlook reopened with a joyful ribbon cutting, live music, and other festivities welcoming the community to enjoy the stunning panoramic views of downtown and the Ozark hills from its newly expanded deck. Known as the best sunset spot in the city, local residents can continue to turn to this peaceful gathering place where nature's beauty meets community connection.

Support Future Projects!

Project for Public Spaces’ Community Placemaking Grants enable US-based nonprofits and government agencies to address inequality of access to public places that serve community needs by working directly with local stakeholders to transform spaces or co-create new ones. We do this by providing direct funding, technical assistance, and capacity building facilitated by Project for Public Spaces. Learn more about how to become a Social Impact Partner today.

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