Page 7 - TR Hometown Searcy July 2017

THREE RIVERS EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE • HOMETOWN SEARCY
SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2017 7SS
“Even to be her first show, her eye has a wisdom there.”
Up on the balcony, Higgs and I peered down Race Avenue toward the courthouse and envisioned what the view might
have looked like to the Blacks.
“Can’t you just see 11 kids playing in the yard?” Higgs
asked, “and this [road] is all dirt and the wagons going up and down the street, and the kids are up in the trees.”
Higgs, who grew up riding her bike along that very ave- nue, said the house is like a family member to her. In fact, her mother and sister’s names are in the Black family Bible. She added that she is grateful to live in a community that supports the arts.
“I hope that we always have the arts in school,” she said, adding that art can provide a crucial emotional outlet for kids. “To become a great artist, you have to have that when you’re a child. What an escape the arts are! I’m so thankful that I get to work in a place that showcases that.”
2 P.M.
Eager to learn more about what Searcy might have been like during the time of the Blacks, I headed to Pioneer Village, a collection of 19th-century buildings owned by the White County Historical Society. Elizabeth Heard, chairwoman of Friends of Pioneer Village, took me on an extensive tour.
I could write a book about all the things I learned, but for this article, I will settle on a few highlights. One of my favorite spots was a replica of a trapper’s cabin based on Wild Sports in the Far West, a firsthand account of German traveler Friedrich Gerstäcker’s hunting trips in mid-19th-century Arkansas. I was also taken with the old Pangburn jail, an intimidating structure built in the early 1900s and used until 1960.
One of the most noteworthy attractions is the Gordon House, a dogtrot-style log structure built in the 1870s. The home is filled with antiques that reflect how wealthy fam- ilies like the Gordons, who owned 900 acres, might have lived during that time.
Pioneer Village hosts open houses in spring and fall that feature volunteers in period dress, demonstrations of pio- neer crafts, live music and dancing. The village also opens at Christmastime to give visitors a glimpse at how their an- cestors might have celebrated the holiday. In addition, vol- unteers give tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays during the summer.
Some guests actually remember the buildings from their original locations. One time, a woman unlocked a post of- fice box at the general store that had once belonged to her family, Heard said, and another time, a man found his own initials carved on a desk in the schoolhouse. Those who vol- unteer with the village are just as enthralled as the visitors, she added.
“The volunteers all have different interests,” she said. “Some know about machinery. Some know about wood. Some know about this, that and the other, but we all share a love of the village.”
A current labor of love is the old Garner Railroad Depot, which was used as a doctor’s office in Beebe before the struc- ture was moved to the village in 2009. The depot offers a peek at how one might have boarded a train in the past but is still being refurbished. The foundation has been leveled, and vol- unteers are working to replace some of the boards.
Pioneer Village has more items to display than the cur- rent space allows, so the Friends of Pioneer Village are working to expand the grounds, Heard said. Like with the
Pioneer Village in Searcy houses a collection of 19th-century buildings owned by the White County Historical Society. Pictured here are the old Pangburn jail, left, and the general store.
depot, a solid foundation and hard work have allowed the village to grow. Similarly, the folks who hunted and farmed in the area hundreds of years ago helped Searcy blossom into the city it is today.