Antebellum home gets fresh start as museum
Posted on Monday, October 1, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/203056/
LAKEPORT — The light breeze tangles with the cotton fields in this small Mississippi River community in southeast Arkansas, where a piece of Civil War-era romance stands dominant in the afternoon sun.
Its white columns, 11-foottall doors and long wooden front porch act as reminders of Southern aristocracy during the time when farmers were kings and blacks were their servants.
Built in 1859, the Lakeport Plantation is 10 miles southeast of Lake Village and is the last antebellum home on the Arkansas banks of the Mississippi River.
The plantation opened to the public on Friday, after six years and $ 6 million of restoration. The attraction is expected to draw 6, 000 tourists and $ 1. 2 million annually to Chicot County, according to estimates from Arkansas State University.
The Sam Epstein Angel family donated the home to ASU in 2001, two years after a core group of professionals organized to pursue restoration of the home, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
“It’s one of the most significant buildings in the state,” said Mark Christ, a spokesman for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.
“Arkansas State University really came in at the 11 th hour,” he said. “The building was starting to show some serious signs of decay, and now the university has restored it to its former glo- ry. Instead of being another empty shell, it’s going to be an important heritage tourism destination.”
The plantation is open to the public as an educational center, museum and resource for preservation professionals, according to Ruth Hawkins, restoration project director.
The home includes exhibits of the politically prominent Johnson family, the owners of the plantation property from 1831 until 1927, when it was sold to Sam Epstein. The actual plantation home wasn’t built until 1859. Johnson family members included congressmen, governors, legislators, judges and statesmen from Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and Virginia. Also included among family members was Richard M. Johnson, who served as vice president of the United States under Martin Van Buren from 1837-1841.
In 1846, Lycurgus Johnson became administrator of the Lakeport property after the death of his father, Joel Johnson, who came to Lakeport from Kentucky in 1831 to purchase the land.
On the eve of the Civil War, Lycurgus Johnson owned 4, 400 acres of Delta land and 155 slaves, according to a timeline of the plantation produced by ASU. During the Civil War, federal troops confiscated some of his property and by 1870 he had lost slaves and property valued at $ 100, 000, according to the timeline.
Unlike many plantation homes east of the Mississippi that are open to the public, the Lakeport Plantation will also include the stories of how whites and blacks interacted on the farm over time, according to Beth Wiedower, field representative for the Arkansas Delta Rural Heritage Development Initiative.
“It makes Lakeport a can’tmiss for any of your visitors looking for that history,” Wiedower said. “It really opens us up to a wider audience.”
The Arkansas Delta Rural Heritage Development Initiative is one of two, three-year pilot programs that are part of The National Trust for Historic Preservation. The other rural heritage development initiative is in Kentucky, according to delta. preservearkansas. org.
Hawkins said Chicot County used to be lined with plantation homes along the river, although none has survived aside from Lakeport. “Many fell into the river when it changed its channel, or they’ve just deteriorated, or burned or have been significantly altered to the point the original structure just isn’t there,” she said.
While the two-story Lakeport Plantation home isn’t furnished, it does include the old dairy house out back, a former smokehouse turned control room and a kitchen, which still contains its original wood-cook oven built by the Wallace Lithgow Co. of Louisville, Ky., a metals company that operated from 1836 to 1861.
Moreover, the old commissary is still intact, complete with prices carved into the shelves where farmers could purchase supplies, groceries and vegetables — 20 cents for okra, 10 cents for rice and 55 cents for Spam.
The plantation home will be open to the public from 9 a. m. to 2 p. m. Monday through Friday and on weekends by appointment only. To make an appointment, call (870 ) 265-6031.