If you drive down Old Greensboro Road today you will find only one building that marks the site of the once bustling frontier community of Greensboro. The white clapboard community center stand near the site of what was once the the “metropolis of Northeast Arkansas.” While I haven’t found it yet, I have been told that only one rusty old pump remains to speak of the once thriving town. Over the years, those of us who grew up in Jonesboro have seen the area go from rural farm land to a prosperous residential area shared by two local school districts, Nettleton and Brookland. Sage Meadows is a golf community located a stone’s throw away. In the 1960’s, my grandparents, Charley and Gladys Clark operated a sizable chicken farm on the very ground where Sage residents tee up their golf balls and drive their gold carts. The area is peaceful, beautiful, and growing as a suburb of Jonesboro.
None of that explains why this area has become near and dear to my heart. I am presently building my retirement home about 250 feet from that historic old road, and I am more than thrilled. My son-in-law, Kinley Gatewood, has led me through the construction of my Craftsman style farmhouse. I jokingly tell my friends that I am building my dream porch that luckily has a house in the middle of it. My beautiful daughter, Tara, is helping to make the inside beautiful… just today she found the tile for the back splash in my kitchen. She also found me a great deal when she found me an excellent deal on my slate kitchen appliances. She knew I really didn’t want stainless steel. When I get moved sometime in mid-December, I think it will be difficult to get me to leave this beautiful home site.
Be it ever so humble…
In my over one acre yard, I am planning to develop an English style walking garden and plant roses and peonies all over the place. Next spring,
I’ll plantmy first two “plots” in my walking garden…daisies and lavender.
Honey sucklegrows all over the fence at the back of my too big back yard. I can hardly wait until summer so I can smell the wonderful scent of the south. I love honeysuckle and lavender, don’t you? I also have the most fabulous grand old oak tree just outside my bedroom. How could an ole retired teacher be so blessed?
My Glorious Old Oak Tree
I will be finishing the Shiloh Saga, working there in my new office. I anticipate many hours sitting there looking out over my fine porch and watching the goings on in the friendly neighborhood, just off Old Greensboro Road. Hope to welcome many of you, my friends and family, in the near future…. I think I’ll be right at home in my new home, so very near Greensboro, just an imagination away from Shiloh!
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