About White County, AR

The White County Historical Society has a collection of pictures on its website and they've said we can share them. Here's a great one of the train depot in Letona, Arkansas.

Letona is about 15 miles from Searcy and has 215 residents at this time.

We're exploring how the trains went to every little town and below is a picture of the Letona depot. But first we we found this picture of a young woman named Corrine Harrison Hart at about 1924 sitting at the depot. Corrine is Anita's mother. Anita is a contributor to this blog. Anita, do you think the man in the background is ogling your mother?

I love the depot picture because of the houses in the background. Letona, if you visit, still has a lot of houses with large lots. I'd have to go back to see if any of these are still standing.

One very interesting thing I discovered about Letona this year is that if you live in city limits you have to go to the post office to get your mail. I sold a house in Letona and the people were surprised, as was I, that the mail didn't run to the houses in the city. That would be good exercise if you walked to the post office each day.

Halloween parties are fun! The elaborate costumes that some folks buy or rent are amazing to see. We attended one last night and the star of the show could be this butler. He talks, he growls, his eyes shift and he makes you feels as if he is alive!! Or could come alive!! Or may be alive! After all, it was Halloween when spooks run free. Those eyes followed me all night long.

The guy on the left owns this spook and that guy on the right is the owner's twin!

And the couple on the right************************

*******************we were underdressed!

Formal gardens still exist in parts of the world, I'm sure. But in Searcy Arkansas I see only one example of what I think of as formal. This house is on the Historic Register and has a vast history. One of the stories that I heard was that the lovely wood shades which show on the windows here had been thrown away once. The neighbors hauled them out of the trash and saved them until a person bought the house who would appreciate them and then they gave them back.

The yard, let's say garden, is always perfectly maintained just as you see in these pictures. This is not new landscaping. The little shrubs have been small for years. I assume that they are a type plant that does not grow large. The owner seems to maintain the garden himself because I see him out in the garden a lot. I hope he does not mind that I'm featuring his historic home and garden on this blog.

This house also was featured in a book published in 1993 called "Millicent, the Millicent Collinsworth Story" by Millicent Collinsworth and Jan Winebrenner. I looked on Amazon.com and didn't find it available so perhaps my copy is a collectible!!

My blog on West Point Arkansas aroused a little interest in old depots in the tiniest towns. I found a couple more photos of trains and depots.

Here's the Augusta depot, or so it was labeled. It looks as if it is saying New Augusta. Now was that a name for Augusta? Augusta is actually in Woodruff County and was once a thriving town. Was it called New Augusta.

I did a Google search for New Augusta AR and it pulled up what we know as Augusta. We may have another mystery here. I have never ever heard Augusta called that. Maybe it's a name similar to Little Rock and North Little Rock?

And while speaking of depots, here's a view of a train that reportedly traveled Doniphan Kensett and Searcy Railroad.

Anita grew up in Searcy, Arkansas and I didn't. I've just been here for the past 40 years while she's been gone. She contributes to this blog with photos and comments. She shared this picture and others of old Searcy with me.

I knew I'd seen that house somewhere so I took off to find it, sat in front of several country houses while people honked and stared and I finally had to call her and ask her where the house was. The one with the little kid on the porch, I said.

She said it was this house that you'll below. It was the house below before her mother did a remodel on it in the 50's. And she even had the audacity to say she was the charming little kid on the porch.

Ha! I yelled back that that could not be the same house. It was absolutely not....she was wrong....her memory was bad.....and the kid didn't even look like her!!

She fought back with (she's really stubborn) a definite yes, yes, it is!!

"YES, YES, YES. That is my l008 W. Arch St. house, in it's original state..That precious little child, sitting in a very graceful pose, is ME.....You're going to have to trust me on this one....." that's what she said!

So I parked in front of this blue house again today with the same honks and funny looks as people drove by. I tried to see the front porch, the steps, the little kid. And I can almost see it.

"What she did to the porch is.....she just torn it down and made a little (very little) foyer, with a coat closet....She made a picture window for the living room.....There she would display her "flocked" Christmas trees. Later she added a bedroom on at the back of the house, plus a bathroom.
Originally off the kitchen was a small screened porch, with steps.
I'm telling you, she took a little basic house and made it much larger, more rooms. She also added a screened in porch off the dining room....I have pictures of it. Later, she enclosed this porch with the paneling that I think is still there, and made a fireplace. Also have pictures.
After I was in college, she added the present carport off of my bedroom. Before the carport was added, I would put a couple of pillows in my bed (as if a body was asleep) and crawl out the window and go riding with my girlfriend from Griffithville. Never did get caught." that's what she said!

She how stubborn she is!! How can you argue with her. BUT, Miss Anita, what happened to that giant tree that shows on the right side of the old version?