Davies Bridge, a sturdy Rustic-style structure at Petit Jean State Park, stands as an emblem of the park's Civilian Conservation Corps heritage and the Davies family's contributions to Arkansas State Parks. In 1932, Samuel G. Davies, a University of Arkansas graduate and civil engineer, was hired by the National Park Service as project superintendent for development of Petit Jean State Park. In 1937, he became the first director of Arkansas State Parks and held that position until 1943. His son S. Ladd Davies worked on the Petit Jean project for two years and designed the bridge. Ladd later earned a master's degree in engineering from Harvard University and served as director of the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology from 1966 to 1977. The family legacy continued with Richard W. Davies, who followed his grandfather as director of Arkansas State Parks from 1976 to 1990 and then as executive director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism from 1990 to 2015. Originally called Cedar Creek Bridge, the structure was built mostly by hand by a Civilian Conservation Corps crew of 15 to 20 men beginning in the summer of 1933, using a makeshift crane, native stone blocks, and a heavy timber form, and was completed in 1934. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 as one of eight remaining masonry bridges in Arkansas, and on October 23, 1999, it was rededicated as Davies Bridge in honor of Samuel G. Davies and S. Ladd Davies.