2017: Lakeport’s 10th Year

For Lakeport’s 10th Anniversary, supporters, Johnson descendants, and authors gathered on Labor Day Weekend.

Since opening in September 2007, Lakeport has become a unique, off-the-beaten-path destination in southeast Arkansas. Tourists bisecting the country or traveling the Great River Road always keep us busy, but we also held a number of events (big and small) in 2017.

On Labor Day Weekend, we commemorated our 10th Anniversary with Lakeport supporters and Johnson family from Canada and the across the U.S. The two-day event was filled with local food and authors who have written about the Johnsons. The authors included Dr. Christina Snyder, Dr. Tom DeBlack, Dr. Blake Wintory, Rex Nelson, and Mike Jordan.

Earlier in the year, Lakeport partnered with Preserve Arkansas for the Behind the Big House. The two-day workshop explored extant slave dwellings and explored ways to interpret the experiences of the enslaved people who inhabited them. The event featured Joseph McGill, an African-American preservationist and founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, and included living history performances, a historic cooking demonstration, and presentations by McGill, Jerome Bias, Angela Walton-Raji, Dr. Blake Wintory, and Dr. Jodi Skipper.

Lakeport continues to host smaller events as well. In 2017, we hosted a book signing with Mike Jordan, author of The Freedom Song (historical fiction about Lakeport) and seven Lakeport Legacies. Our speakers presented on topics like the Civil War in the Delta, African American fraternal organizations, the Delta Chinese Heritage Museum, and the Delta plantations related to Lakeport.

We have also added to local history by publishing on Lakeport’s blog. Here are some posts you might have missed over the past year:

Adolph Meyer Arrives at Grand Lake in 1867 (January 2017)
April 21, 1927 [1927 Flood] (April 21, 2017)
Greenville, Mississippi’s City and Telephone Directories (June 2017)
Greenville’s Elks’ Lodge (October 2017)

This past year, we had a great start on the Lakeport Pillars, our friends’ group and museum membership program. The Lakeport Pillars is an important way you can help support research, outreach, and events at the Lakeport Plantation. Your contribution is tax deductible.

If you are local, consider volunteering some of your time at Lakeport. There is no better way to learn history than by engaging with it through tours and research.