A Girls’ Day Out…
Learning and Loving Arkansas’s Past

On the last Monday on April,  Jenny Phillips and I drove to Luxora, Arkansas, to step into the past of her family.  She had grown up in an old “plantation” house near this rural town.  Graciously she shared precious memories of her time there with her grandparents, W.C. and Ruth Howard.  In the 1920’s, they  bought the house and property from its original owner, James Horn Williams.  The Williams family occupied the house from the antebellum days so between the two families this grand old home had been occupied more than 130 years.  Today the house is abandoned and endanger of loss since its vacancy in 2014 at the death of its final occupant, Mrs. Carolyn Howard Hudson, Jennie’s sister.  The precious house is now on the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas list of the most Endangered Historic Places in our state.

The core of this house was built after 1849 of thick cypress planks that have stood the rigors of time.  Those planks are visible on the stairwell. We climbed to the second floor of this grand place. Not one creak came from the sturdy stairs, and the banister was rock solid.  The huge old rooms spoke to the prosperity of this planter family.  While the wallpaper was mostly gone and paint peeled in many places, the substantial woodwork and beautiful wood floors of bygone days remain intact for most part.  In a few places, the siding added over the ages was missing. The two-plus-inch cypress wood planks were exposed, including a few square-headed nails that were standard in the days when this house was built.  I was enchanted.

 

Even more, the yard carried us back to times gone by.  Ancient trees, magnolias with twin trunks, and catalpa trees, shaped like dinosaurs still grace the yard of the old farm house.  Jennie said that the “smells and the sounds of the homeplace” brought back special memories of her childhood with her grandparents.  When she arrived in the drive, she asked me to stop the engine and roll down the windows.  We were greeted by myriad birds singing and the scampering of squirrels.  No other sound interrupted.  Once again, Jennie smiled and said, “These sounds are the orchestra of paradise.”  My intrusion into her memories was a blessing.  This kind of research makes writing historical fiction so special.

                                     Not a squeak!

 

After our tromping through the fine old house, much in need of historic preservation, we made our way to the “shoot” off the Mississippi River just over the levee across the road from the Howard-Williams House.  I didn’t know that islands lay so close to the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River.  I also was surprised how swift the river ran in the shoot.  Jennie said that many people had drowned in that area during her childhood because they didn’t know how swift the current is in the offshoot of the main river.

From there, we made our way to Wilson to find lunch.   Actually, we went to Wilson on the wrong day, as Monday is their down day. The trip to the company town established by the R.E.L. Wilson family was well worth the trip anyway.  The town has been cited by Southern Living Magazine as one of the best rural towns in the South.  The restoration and development of the area shows why.  I hope we will be able to go back on a Wednesday soon when they hold their farmer’s market day where local produce and crafts are on display every week at the Grange.

We had the opportunity to eat at the Wilson Cafe and Tavern.  The Blue Plate Special of deep fried pork chops, new green beans and mashed potatoes was excellent. Even better,  the people we met were so kind and welcoming.   After we ate, Ross Harris, Jr., the manager of the Wilson Cafe,  took us on a tour of the Wilson Grange. There we met Jill Forrester, who runs Whitten Farms with her husband.  They grow myriads of plants and flowers sold across the country.  Jill told us about the outreach of Wilson through some of their programs at the Grange. Check out the Grange when you visit Wilson, Arkansas.

One last thing ,   if you like bread pudding, you must go to Wilson and order some at the Wilson Cafe.  Their eighteen-year-old chef, whose name I forgot to write down, made the most (well, delicious is a word about half good enough to describe what we ate) scrumptious confection I ever put in my mouth.  Of course, he wouldn’t tell us how he made it exactly. He did hint that it had something to do with the browned butter and a touch of whiskey!

I am so grateful to Jennie Phillips for sharing this day of research with me.  Her memories and stories of childhood will find ways into a book someday, I’m sure!  Do yourself a favor and plan a trip to the delta in Northeast Arkansas.  Much of the past remains there but also a strong draw to a prosperous future for those who love this state.