Lincoln County Arkansas Landlord-Tenant Law: The World’s Longest Bayou, Two Prisons, a Turtle Derby, and What Every Landlord Needs to Know
Bayou Bartholomew begins near Pine Bluff in Jefferson County, meanders southeast through Lincoln and Drew counties and into Louisiana, and doesn’t stop until it has traveled more than 375 miles — making it, by most measures, the longest bayou in the world. In Lincoln County, it does something particularly useful: it bisects the county almost exactly from northwest to southeast, creating one of the clearest geographic dividing lines in Arkansas. West of the bayou, you’re in the Arkansas Timberlands — rolling, forested, oriented toward pine, poultry, cattle, and the occasional tomato farm. East of the bayou, you’re in the Arkansas Delta — flat as a billiard table, black alluvial soil, devoted to rice, cotton, soybeans, and beans. Two economies, two landscapes, one county, divided by a slow brown waterway that stretches from Arkansas to Louisiana.
Lincoln County was created on March 28, 1871, from parts of Arkansas, Bradley, Desha, Drew, and Jefferson counties during the Reconstruction-era reorganization of Arkansas. It was named for President Abraham Lincoln — one of relatively few Arkansas counties to retain a Reconstruction-era name honoring a Union figure rather than a Confederate one. (Nearby Grant County is another.) The county seat, Star City, acquired its name from a commission’s observation that five surrounding hills rose around the chosen courthouse site in a pattern resembling the points of a star. Whether or not that observation was geometrically sound, it produced one of the more distinctive place names in southeast Arkansas.
Cummins and Varner: The County’s Most Stable Employers
For landlords in Lincoln County, the most important employment anchor is the Arkansas Department of Correction, which operates two of its largest and most historically significant facilities in the county. The Cummins Unit, located on a 16,500-acre farm outside Grady, has been in continuous operation since the first inmates arrived by riverboat on December 13, 1902. For much of its history, Cummins was a prison farm in the most literal sense: inmates cultivated crops, raised livestock, and generated revenue for the state in conditions that eventually attracted national legal scrutiny. A landmark 1970 federal court ruling in Holt v. Sarver found conditions at Cummins unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, triggering a decade of forced reforms that transformed the Arkansas prison system. The Cummins Unit today is a 1,725-bed maximum-security facility operating under modern management standards.
The adjacent Varner Unit, established in 1987, is a separate maximum-security facility that houses Arkansas’s death row population. Executions take place at the Cummins Unit. Together, the two facilities employ hundreds of corrections officers, counselors, administrative staff, medical personnel, and support workers. Corrections officer starting salaries at the Arkansas Department of Correction run in the $55,000–$62,000 annual range, and the positions include full state benefits. For Lincoln County landlords, ADC staff represent one of the most reliable tenant profiles available in the market: state W-2 employees with stable, documented income, predictable pay schedules, and a state background check already completed as part of their hiring process. Verify active current employment with consecutive pay stubs and confirm which unit and position classification the applicant holds.
The Kearney Family of Gould: Lincoln County’s Most Remarkable Story
Among the many stories that emerge from Lincoln County’s history, one stands out for its sheer improbability. T.J. and Ethel Kearney, an African American couple farming near Gould during the era of segregation, raised 19 children in rural southeast Arkansas. All but one of those 19 children went on to earn college degrees — including degrees from Harvard, Yale, Brown, Stanford, and Vanderbilt. Two of the Kearney siblings served in the Clinton White House. Their story, chronicled by family member Janis F. Kearney in Sundays with T.J.: 100 Years of Memories on Varner Road (2014), stands as one of the most extraordinary accounts of family achievement against structural barriers in American history. It also says something important about Lincoln County: a place that has faced significant economic challenges has also produced people of remarkable determination.
The Gould Turtle Derby and the Star Daze Festival
Lincoln County has two community celebrations worth knowing. The Star Daze Festival in Star City is a three-day event featuring live music, craft vendors, carnival rides, food, and a car show that attracts approximately 20,000 visitors each year — an impressive turnout for a county of just under 13,000 residents, suggesting the event draws from surrounding Jefferson, Drew, Arkansas, and Desha counties as well. And then there is the Annual Turtle Derby in Gould, held every August, in which the community gathers to race turtles across a course. The Turtle Derby is exactly what it sounds like and is better than anything a marketing team could have invented. Both events bring visitors and economic activity to a county that welcomes the boost.
Cane Creek State Park and the Two-Economy Rental Landscape
Cane Creek State Park, just east of Star City, opened in 1992 on 2,053 acres at the confluence of Cane Creek and Bayou Bartholomew. The park’s centerpiece is a 1,675-acre lake ideal for bass and catfish fishing, canoeing, and kayaking. Trails, pavilions, and a visitor center with a gift shop round out the amenities. For landlords with properties near the park, modest STR potential exists during fishing season and spring/summer recreational periods. Verify STR permit requirements with the City of Star City before listing.
Understanding the dual-economy nature of Lincoln County is essential for screening. A tenant employed at a Delta rice or cotton farm operates on an income cycle tied to commodity prices, harvest timing, and weather. A tenant employed at a Timberlands poultry processing plant has a different income structure entirely — hourly W-2 with predictable schedules but potentially variable hours depending on production demand. A corrections officer at Cummins or Varner has perhaps the most stable and predictable income profile of any tenant type in the county. Match your documentation requirements to the income type and always use consistent, written screening criteria regardless of which side of Bayou Bartholomew your property sits on.
Arkansas Landlord-Tenant Law in Lincoln County
All residential rental relationships in Lincoln County are governed entirely by statewide Arkansas law — A.C.A. §§ 18-16-101 through 18-16-108 and the Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007, A.C.A. §§ 18-17-101 et seq. There is no local rent control, no just-cause eviction requirement, and no landlord licensing requirement in Star City, Gould, Grady, or Lincoln County.
For nonpayment of rent, serve a written 3-day notice to vacate after rent is at least 5 days past due. For lease violations other than nonpayment, serve a 14-day notice to cure or quit. Month-to-month tenancies require 30 days’ written notice to terminate; week-to-week require 7 days. Security deposits are capped at two months’ rent for landlords with six or more rental units and must be returned with written itemized deductions within 60 days of lease termination. Arkansas does not impose a default implied warranty of habitability; tenants have no repair-and-deduct remedy. Abandoned property may be disposed of after lease termination. Self-help evictions are prohibited.
All evictions in Lincoln County are filed with Circuit Clerk Cindy Glover, 300 S. Drew St., Star City, AR 71667, (870) 628-3154. Lincoln County is a wet county.
This guide is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Arkansas landlord-tenant law is governed by the Arkansas Code Annotated and applies statewide, with no local rent control or just-cause eviction requirements in Lincoln County. Consult a licensed Arkansas attorney or contact the 11th West Judicial Circuit Court Clerk at (870) 628-3154 for guidance specific to your situation. Last updated: March 2026.
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