News

Dec092010December 9, 2010November 19, 2014by itswebteam

Final Highway Sign is Added for Westbound Motorists

The last Lakeport Plantation Home sign was installed this week on Highway 82. Motorists coming over the new bridge from Mississippi will now see a Tourist Oriented Directional Sign (TODS) pointing to the Lakeport turnoff at Hwy 142.

Hwy 82 Westbound Directional Sign for Lakeport/Hwy 142

Nov172010November 17, 2010November 19, 2014by itswebteam

Thanksgiving & Holiday Hours, plus our 2nd Annual Holiday Open House

Posted in 2010, holiday christmas, Holiday hours, Holiday open house, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Holiday

Limited Hours on November 24 (Day before Thanksgiving). Staff will be onsite for tours at 10 a.m. until Noon.
Closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday – November 25 and 26; Resume regular hours on November 29th

2nd Annual Holiday Open House
We are busy getting ready for the Holidays at Lakeport. With the Friends of Lakeport, we have began putting up the Christmas decorations and are preparing for the 2nd Annual Holiday Open House, Saturday, December 4 at Lakeport from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

We will again celebrate the Season with classic holiday arts & crafts and holiday refreshments. Bring the family and enjoy hot apple cider, Christmas cookies, spice cake, music and tours of the historic Lakeport Plantation home. And, with our special connections, we will again have a special jolly guest.

Christmas/New Year Holidays

Open limited hours on December 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 and 30 (Staff will be on-site for tours at 10 am and 2 pm);
Closed December 23-26, 31 and January 1, 2;
Resume regular hours on January 3.

Nov022010November 2, 2010November 22, 2016by itswebteam

Lakeport’s Floor Cloth — Another Discovery

Posted in floor cloth, Kentucky, Louisville, oil cloth

The ca. 1860 floor cloth was one of the most exciting finds during Lakeport’s restoration.

The wall to wall (15’ x 9” x 26’ 2”) floor cloth (or oil cloth) was rediscovered in the entry room during restoration, having been previously documented by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program in the 1970s. Canvas floor cloths were often painted to give them the look of carpet, but with increased durability. The floral and medallion composition of the design conforms to known woven carpet patterns of the period.

Conserved sections of Lakeport floor cloth

The two sections displayed have been cleaned and conserved by Becky Witsell’s Studio Werk in Little Rock. Analysis revealed the cloth, painted with fourteen colors, is “composed of Bast fibers which are linen, flax, hemp or jute.”

Additionally, two labels were discovered underneath the floor cloth, which also transposed on the flooring. In the southeast corner a shipping label states, “L. L. Johnson, Lakeport, Ark.” While at the threshold to the entry of the home, a worn dealer’s mark partially reads, “Fr[om] Hi[?], Louisville, KY.”

Shipping Label, Southeast Corner

Negative image of Lakeport entry threshold shows some of the dealer’s label.

The worn dealer’s label has always been a source of frustration. The fact that it read Louisville, KY is interesting, because the Johnson’s are from Kentucky and other materials for the house are also coming from that area–Wallace & Lithgow Stove, as well as the mantels (Madison, Indiana). But we have always wanted to know who “Hi[?]” was. Well, thanks to a little bit of historical research, we can, with some certainty, say that the importer of the floor cloth was the firm of “Hite & Small” in Louisiville, KY.

From the entry floor we can make out the “Fr[om] … Hi[?]…Louisville, Ky”.

From knowing that, we looked in the 1859 Hawes’ Kentucky State Gazetteer and Business Directory on microfilm and found “Hite & Small” under “Hi”.

Since they are importers, the floor cloth could very well be made somewhere else [There were floor cloth makers in Kentucky in the mid-19th century].

There is also an 1859 City Directory online (difficult to search thru, though). There, we find Hite’s and Small’s full names (William C. Hite and George W. Small)

Hite seems to show up in the 1860 Census as a 37 year old, Engineer born in Ireland with $800 real estate, $200 personal estate. (not so sure about it though). While, Small is a 45 year old, Kentucky born Merchant worth $40,000 real estate, $30,000 personal estate.

Hite & Small advertisement, Louisville Daily Journal, Feb 1, 1859

Nov012010November 1, 2010November 19, 2014by itswebteam

Full time Rvers Blog about visiting Lakeport

Posted in News

Journeyin’…living & traveling in a RV: Last antebellum plantation in Arkansas: “I had to get my dictionary out to look up the definition of antebellum : “. . .relating to the period before the Civil War.” On our list …”

Oct152010October 15, 2010November 19, 2014by itswebteam

Highway Signage Impoving at Lakeport

Posted in bridge, highway, signs

More highways signs were installed this week on Highway 82 at the foot of the new Mississippi river bridge. For several weeks the signs noting the location of Highway 142 were missing. This has confused a few guests, who eventually did find us. Were there others who didn’t? So, no more confusion. We have green highway signs that point you to Lakport (AR side only) and Highway 142 signs to remind drivers that 142 is near and arrowed Highway 142 signs showing the highway (AR and MS sides). We are still waiting for a brown highway sign for Lakeport Plantaiton for drivers coming off the bridge from Mississippi (UPDATE: Sign was installed in the second week of December 2010).

There lead up to the new bridge is also improved. There are now four lanes and a turn off lane for Highway 142.

New Green Directional Highway Sign, Hwy 82 heading east

New Hwy 142 Turn off sign.

Brown Lakeport Plantation sign at Hwy 82E & Hwy 142 (The AR Hwy Dept calls these Tourist Oriented Directional Signs [TODS]) Also, notice the improved turn off lane.

Brown Lakeport Plantation sign at Hwy 82W & Hwy 142 ( For west bound motorists).

New Sign marking the Mississippi River.

New Highway 142 Sign on Hwy 82W (coming off MS River Bridge)

Oct072010October 7, 2010November 19, 2014by itswebteam

Lakeport Will Be Open for Columbus Day, Monday, October 11

Posted in Columbus Day, fall hours

Lakeport will be open for Columbus Day. If you’re exploring that day, we will be here for you to discover a new world.

Sep202010September 20, 2010November 22, 2016by itswebteam

Another Season of Cotton

Posted in 2010, agriculture, cotton, history, statistics

One of things that makes Lakeport special is the continued cultivation of cotton around the home. With the home still in its original surroundings, its link to the past is ever-present. In 1831, Joel Johnson left Scott County, Kentucky with 23 enslaved laborers for Chicot County. The enslaved laborers slowly carved a plantation out of bottomland hardwood forests. By 1850 the Lakeport estate contained 4,013 acres, 132 slaves, 20 horses, 34 mules, and 85 cattle. It produced 4,000 bushels of corn, 475 bales of cotton (400 lb), 300 bushels of potatoes, 300 bushels of sweet potatoes, and 20 bushels of peas and beans.

Green Fields of Cotton, July 22, 2010

The fields of cotton provide a beautiful backdrop to Lakeport and its agricultural history, but we should also think about how much Lakeport changed in the past 160 years; Plantations are no longer diversified centers of agriculture. Lakeport is strictly in cotton now. There are no mules, horses, or oxen and no corn is grown to feed those beasts of burden. And rather than grow their own food, cotton farmers today likely buy their food at grocery stores like Sunflower or Yee’s Food Land in Lake Village. Cotton plantations have also gone through several stages: slave-based labor to sharecropping and tenant system to mechanization today. Where it took hundreds of laborers and animals to grow a season of cotton in 1850, today it requires a handful of workers, plus tractors, fuel, and cropper dusters that spray for pests and the defoliants that reveal the white bolls of cotton that we see in September.

Cotton Picking, September 16, 2010

Crop picked and half the field brush hogged, September 20, 2010

Sep102010September 10, 2010November 22, 2016by itswebteam

Laura (Lollie) P. Starling (1854-1946)

Posted in Canada, carpet, floor covering, history, Lollie Starling, primary source, punkah, Starlings, weddings

Lollie Starling, ca. 1930. Photo Courtesy Margaret Hink Starling,

Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada.

Lollie Starling came to Chicot County from Kentucky after her father, William Starling, purchased the Sunnyside Plantation in 1868. In her “Memories,” Lollie describes details of the Lakeport home and the marriage of her brother, Charles, to Annie Taylor Johnson at Lakeport in October 1878. After the sale of Sunnyside to the Calhoun Land Company in 1881, the Starlings moved to Greenville, Miss. Her brother Charles and his family moved to Canada in 1908. Lollie later moved back to Kentucky writing many letters to family in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Canada.

Lakeport Selection from Memories of Laura P. Starling

The Johnson home at Lakeport, Arkansas, was really a beautiful home. Mr. & Mrs. Jonson had built it to suit themselves, soon after they were married. There was a long broad hall opening into a reception room at the back. In this room there was a lovely bay window that made it a beautiful room for entertaining. Several wedding ceremonies were performed here (Cave’s mother and father were married in this room).

[Lollie is referring to the marriage of her brother Charles Starling to Annie Taylor Johnson and their son Cave Johnson Starling (b. 1885 in Greenville)]

A very large parlor and family dining room were on the left side of the hall. Cave’s father made the punkah (swinging fly brush used over the dining room table). The parlor had beautiful brasses and a very handsome velvet carpet, Aubusson, I think–that Mrs. Johnson’s mother-in-law had used fifty years, then given it to Mrs. Johnson and she used it fifty years.

[Lollie discusses the South Parlor of the house, which is the most formal of the parlors. In this room portraits of Lydia and Lycurgus hung above the mantle (portraits were painted by William F. Cogswell in the mid-1850s). This is also one of the few references we have to floor covering in the house–possibly a French Aubusson carpet. Traditionally, floors were completely covered in antebellum and Victorian homes with carpets and floor cloths. We see evidence of carpet in many of the rooms (i.e. tack marks in the corner),as well as photographic evidence of the carpet that once went up the stairs. And, of course, we have the entire 15′ x 26′ floor cloth from the entry of the home.

Update 12/11/12: Lollie may have remembered an Aubusson, but they are delicate carpets that would not be fitted to a room or tacked down. Therefore, the tack marks in the South Parlor at Lakeport would have been for a fitted carpet such as a Wilton (cut pile) or Brussels (loop pile).

Lollie also makes the only known reference to a “punkah” in Lakeport’s dining room. You can still see “the swinging fly brush” at many antebellum homes in Natchez. Lakeport’s punkah is gone, but evidence of its installation was found in the ceiling during restoration.]

Sep022010September 2, 2010November 19, 2014by itswebteam

Labor Day Weekend Hours

Posted in Labor Day, Saturday, Weekends

Lakeport will be open for tours this Saturday at 10 am with the last tour given at 2pm. This is our last Saturday this summer that we will be open.

We will be closed Mon, September 6 for the Labor Day Holiday. Regular hours will resume Tuesday, September 7.

Aug192010August 19, 2010November 19, 20141 Commentby itswebteam

Restoration News August 2010

Posted in doors, hardware, restoration, shutters

Lakeport’s restoration continues. The final three doors were installed last week: two back doors delivered after restoration last year and one upstairs door that was waiting to be rehung. The back doors’ exteriors have been faux grained in oak, as they were originally. The original black paint on the interior has been preserved. The kitchen door is especially interesting, because of the wear at the bottom. New wood replaced the wear on the exterior, but on the interior the wear can still be seen. Period rim locks have also been installed on these two doors as well.

Faux Grained Oak Exterior Doors; Office on Left, Kitchen on Right

Restoration and Wear Pattern at Base of Kitchen Door

We also had shutter hardware installed. The hardware allows for the shutters to be shut and locked from the inside. Since all but two of the original shutters were gone, we relied on photographic evidence for reproduction of the hardware.

Shutters and Hardware, ca. 1973 from Arkansas Historic Preservation Program

Shutters and Hardware, August 2010

In other news, Annie Paden, the grand-daughter of Annie Taylor Worthington, donated her grandmother’s bound sheet music. While the book was bound in 1892, much of the music dates to Annie’s time at Lakeport (1877-1888). See our blog entry on the Lakeport Piano for more on Annie Worthington.

Page from Annie T. Worthington Bound Sheet Music Book

And finally, thank you to Chicot County Judge Mack Ball for adding gravel to our road.

We need your “car wheels on our gravel road”