Lake Village

The Lake Village community in Arkansas has a rich history of Italian immigration, dating back to the 1890s when New York banker Austin Corbin brought Italian immigrants to work on the Sunnyside Plantation. Many of the immigrants were subject to peonage, a form of debt bondage, but despite this, over 1,000,000 Italian-Americans can trace their ancestry back to the Sunnyside Plantation. Today, there is a detailed museum dedicated to the Italian history of Sunnyside Plantation and a cookbook showcasing the local Italian cuisine. Their parish is Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church.