Old Lunenburg Schoolhose (Just Prior to Collapse and just After)

It is our understanding that the Old Lunenburg Schoolhouse and Oddfellows Hall stood until it collapsed in 1989. These fantastic photos document the building just prior to the collapse and just after. Our deepest gratitude to Duane Cooper for having the foresight to get these shots of the school before it was gone forever!

 From the Izard County Historian (Volume 7 Number 4):

"The community was not able to start construction on the long awaited school until about the year 1868. This was also the year in which the state laws placed a three mill tax on real estate. This was to be used for school purposes. There was nothing in Arkansas’ first constitution forbidding a school tax in districts where such tax was needed. There is evidence that the patrons of Lunenburg may have voted to tax themselves. 10 Even with a three mill tax the district needed the help of the entire community to put into operation the kind of school that was needed to meet the requirements of the growing population. A meeting was called and a request for volunteers went out. Services and material was pledged and the work started. A stand of pine trees was donated. Men volunteered to cut and haul the logs to sawmills. Time was donated to cut the logs into lumber and return it to the building site. Much of the labor of building was also donated. Two of the carpenters known to have helped in the construction of the new building were William Ragan and E. G. Landers. Joseph Ragan,father of William is credited with much of the work. He hand planed all of the inside paneling and ceiling boards as well as the outside weatherboarding. Planer mills had not yet come into use. A well attended I.O.O.F. Lodge was willing to cooperate with the school in the building venture. The Lodge agreed to furnish one-half of all materials and labor if they could use the second story as their meeting place.The two-story building atop the hill overlooking the little village was an impressive sight to the residents. They added still another distinction. There was no bell in the entire county to notify pupils that it was time to assemble. It was decided that the best possible bell be purchased for the school that had been built with love and care by the residents of Lunenburg. The empty belfry awaited the slow process of transportation to bring its cargo to port.The bell was brought by steamboat to Wild Haws Landing(now Guion) and thence to Lunenburg by ox wagon driven by two local residents. Legend has it that Starlin Smith,then a lad, was one of the drivers of the oxen. It was necessary to use oxen as the fine horses brought here from Kentucky and Tennessee by some of the settlers had all been conscripted during the recent conflict or had been taken by bushwhackers. But at last the bell was in place.Its clear, loud tone brought people in from miles around. It was one of the proudest possessions of the little town. For almost a full century its musical sound was enjoyed by old and young alike. It had a special meaning to all who had listened for its call on cold, frosty mornings as they hurried to school. Old ladies shed tears and old men shook their heads in disbelief when it was learned that the bell had been removed by thieves whose identity has not been established. Such was their love for the old bell. The two-story building was maintained as a school for grades one through eight. However, high school subjects were taught there by capable teachers who did not mind extra duty. As has been previously mentioned,the church and school exchanged property. The main purpose in exchanging lots was to preserve the old school building, the church members being willing to use the building as their place of worship. The present stone structure was occupied by the school until the year 1948-1949 when that district consolidated with Melbourne district and a bus route was established. This brought an end to a way of life that had long been maintained. The school and church had been the hub of the little town. One by one the places of business moved away or closed down. At this point in time it is hard to visualize all the activity that once stirred within Lunenburg."

 Enjoy!

Spring Sing at Knob Creek Church!

 

Come out to beautiful, serene, Knob Creek Church for fun and refreshment at the Cooper Family's 2013 Spring Sing! 

Sunday May 26th, 2013 at 6:00 pm!

Performing will be:

Gerald Cooper
The Garlands
Dana Haggard 

Sharing nostalgia from her days growing up at Knob Creek:

Mrs. Bonnie Cooper

Trail of Trees Road-Trip

UPDATE! Order your T-Shirts for shipment via PayPal below!

This Spring's road-trip will be a ride along what we believe might be an ancient Native-American trail marked by over a dozen living artifacts! This event which will feature a presentation about Indian Trail Trees by Mountain Stewards member, Bob Gaut, at the historic Lunenburg Schoolhouse will be capped by visits on both ends to the Melbourne History Museum in the morning and the Calico Rock Museum in the afternoon! Historian and EIC/ESC Crew Member, Freda Cruse Hardison will be sharing some stories from the period of the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Trees marks the route of the Trail of Tears traveled by the Benge Detachment and probably others through Izard County during the period. Along the trail, we'll visit the original County Seat of Izard County, Athens, where at least one group of 1500 camped during the Trail of Tears.

This event is free and open to anyone interested in the subject of the trees! We will encourage participants to make donations which will be divided between both museums. We will also offer T-Shirts near our cost and will have some raffle items available to help raise funds for software and equipment updates we desperately need! T-Shirts will be available for pre-ordering.

An itinerary, schedule, and map will be available next week to all participants.

To sign-up for this tour, please join at our Facebook Event page, call us at (870) 656-4835, or contact us by e-mail at hillbillyizard@yahoo.com !

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If you don't use Facebook, visit our EIC Events Page!

Sizes and Styles

Adult Small S/S $14.00 USD Adult Medium S/S $14.00 USD Adult Large S/S $14.00 USD Adult XL S/S $14.00 USD 2X S/S $16.00 USD 3X S/S $16.00 USD All Sizes L/S $20.00 USD

Tornado Damage at Old Jeffery Burial Ground

An EF2 Tornado ripped across the White River Bottom at Ruby's Landing near Mount Olive on April 10th destroying one home and devastating the Old Jeffery Burial Ground. Two memorial stones were damaged. Both Jehoiada Jeffery's stone and Nancy (wife of Daniel M. Jeffery) Jeffery's stones were sheered off at the base but should be restorable.
We've been told that a crew from the Arkansas Dept. of Corrections (Calico Unit) will be coming within the next couple of weeks to clean up the damage. After discussing the damage with members of the Jeffery Family, it was decided that the two damaged stones will be removed from the cemetery to keep them from being stolen. They will be returned to the cemetery once they have been restored.

Sylamore Trail Trees?

 We decided to get out Easter afternoon to visit the western part of the county to explore and look for thong trees before the foliage bursts forth in brilliant fashion. We were delighted to find several trees while doing so! Three massive trees we found near Sylamore are featured below. Also included is a photo of the tree that started our journey down the road of studying these trees...one that was tragically cut down a few years ago not long after we discovered it. Whether these trees are legitimate Native-American trail trees or not, it's important we get the word out so landowners might think twice before destroying these amazing living artifacts. A short video is also included. For more photos and discussion, join us on Facebook!

Video: The Falls of West Twin Creek

The secrets of Izard continue to reveal themselves in magical ways! This weekend, We wandered a little way down West Twin Creek along the Sylamore Road to investigate a waterfall we had been told about recently. We were not disappointed finding not one but two wonderful examples!

Enjoy!

Trail Trees Along Jumbo

On Saturday, The EIC Crew investigated trees we have noticed along Jumbo Road but never paid much attention to until recently. Within the last few months, the area where these trees stand has been cleaned up and brush was removed exposing what Rick and I have both noticed before but dismissed as dead-fall. To our amazement and delight, we found the trees to be two of the most unusual specimens we have yet encountered. We could only speculate as to their origin. The trees are located adjacent to a flowing spring that runs through a beautiful little hollow complete with waterfall. The tree shown at the bottom is one we happened to find along Jumbo after leaving the site of the two unusual trees. Both of these trees are further evidence that Jumbo Road might have been built along an ancient Indian trace and this route was likely the one taken in 1838 by part of the Benge Detachment during the Trail of Tears Indian removal.

Then the Rain Came!

After Izard County's first sustained rainfall since the Spring of 2012, the EIC Crew visited two waterfalls near Gid.

Who is Annie Rachel Jeffery?

The following video clip is an excerpt from a video we have been working on for over a year now covering the Jeffery Family Saga. This clip is from Part 1- Miles Jeffery. While visiting with Elvada Walker and other family members at the Miles Jeffery Cemetery, Elvada told about finding the headstone of Annie Rachel and the family is unable to find any biographical information on her at all. If you happen to know of Annie Rachel Jeffery, buried at the Miles Jeffery Cemetery in Stone County across the river from Mount Olive, please contact us via the e-mail provided on the sidebar.

We thank you in advance for your help solving this mystery.

Ruddell Mill in Independence County

Following are photos of the remains of one of the earliest mills in the White River Valley, The Ruddell Mill just outside of Batesville in Independence County. Not only is the mill significant for the role it played in the early industry of the White River Valley, it was built by a significant character with close connections to one of the great figures in American history, Tecumseh.

 Ruddell Mill was built sometime around 1830 by John and Abraham Ruddell. Abraham (also known as Abram) along with his brother Stephen, was taken captive by the Shawnee after a raid on Ruddell's Station in Kentucky in 1780 during the Revolutionary War. The fort was named for Isaac Ruddell, the boys' father, who commanded and refortified the site the year before. After the raid, Stephen, the older of the two, was adopted into the tribe and became very close to Tecumseh. Stephen and Tecumseh grew up together in the same home and became as brothers. Abraham, however, was sold into slavery, bought by a mean and bitter widow of the tribe. Abraham's life among the Shawnee was very rough. He survived to settle and thrive living near the mouth of Mill Creek in the area we know as Ruddell Hill near Batesville.

It is said that Abraham Ruddell spoke in broken English until his death in 1841.  Ruddell was among the first settlers in the White River Valley, likely settling here as a result of his adopted Shawnee having occupied the White River Bottoms of modern-day Stone County by permission of the Cherokee Nation from 1817 to 1828. His reasons for not living among the Shawnee were likely legal. It was unlawful for a white man to own property in the Cherokee Nation of the Ozarks formed by The Treaty of 1817. John Lafferty's widow, Sarah Lindsey Lafferty, was forced to relocate across the River sometime after the treaty was signed.  In fact, Tecumseh's mother, Stephen Ruddell's adopted mother, Methotaske, lived across the river from Sarah Lafferty and  Abrahamm Ruddell in modern-day Stone County until she died. She,  Methotaske, is buried near Penter's Bluff.

The ruins were nominated to The National Register of Historic Places and were listed as they should be. The Mill Dam is an extraordinary piece of work as the rest of the stonework at the site is also. It's a remarkable place and likely one of the most significant historic sites in our area.

If you'd like a little better picture of Abraham and Stephen's  lives, you can download a great essay about the brothers by clicking here!

Another article written by our friend, Historian and Genealogist Dale Hanks, is available to read or download here.

ENJOY!

 

W. B. Byler Barn

This past weekend, we happened to meet up with an old friend, Dave Byler, near Knob Creek who showed us his grandfather's barn. Dave told us the barn was built with logs from another old barn sometime after his grandfather, William Barrett Byler, homesteaded the property. We were told that the only money that has ever changed hands for the property is that exchanged with France for the Louisiana Purchase. William...or "Wils" as he was called, was the son of Dr. John Love Byler. It is said that John was educated by his mother and given a good education. He became a Doctor. According to Carroll Byler,"John was a country family doctor. He rode his horse or mule around visiting his patients. Made a small living as no one had much money. They only took a buggy when the family went. (from oocities Byler5thGeneration)

 Enjoy the photos!