MONTICELLO -- The University of Arkansas at Monticello is working on the restoration of the last known example of a two-story, dogtrot-style log residence in the lower Delta region of Arkansas.
John Kyle Day, an associate professor of history, is leading the project for the university and said it will be completed in phases.
Phase one, which should be done by June, has included securing the land and shoring up the 1846 structure before extensive renovations begin, Day said.
The cypress-log structure was built in 1846 by a wealthy Kentucky physician and cotton plantation owner named John Martin Taylor. He married Mary Elizabeth Robertson of Drew County in 1843, and the pair built the plantation house as a summer residence, according to the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program's website.
Taylor's descendants lived on the plantation site through the 1940s, Day said. After that, the site and house were used primarily for storage.
The Taylor House at Hollywood Plantation sits along Bayou Bartholomew in rural Drew County near Winchester. It was donated to the university for research and preservation purposes, with funding for the renovation work coming primarily from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
Day said the entire cost will amount to several hundred thousand dollars.
UA-Monticello Chancellor Jack Lassiter wrote of the project in its master plan: "The house and site will provide an environment for UAM students and all Arkansans with a window into the past telling how a humble but massive 1840s log house became the beloved epicenter of one of the state's earliest major cotton plantations."
The plan includes intentions to detail how "the house and plantation enterprise successfully evolved over more than a century," as well as how the Taylors' "enslaved African-American community transitioned to freedom and wage-based farming and the story of the endangered Bayou Bartholomew that is, in itself, a unique natural feature of the Arkansas landscape."
Mark Christ, community outreach director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, said the site's significance to the state is immeasurable.
"The Taylor Log House is an extremely important building -- the only known two-story, log dogtrot structure in the lower Arkansas Delta, as well as one of the relatively few antebellum buildings surviving in that state," Christ said.
"The fact that it is located on a site that has the potential to reveal archaeological information on farming operations from the 1840s into the 20th century increases its significance."
Day said once the plantation is restored, it will be added to the planned Southeast Arkansas Heritage Trail as a tourist attraction and learning center. History students at UAM will also have a chance to learn hands on about how museums are run.
"A lot of people think that all you can do with a history degree is teach," Day said. "Our students will have a great opportunity to learn from this project as we move forward. Students have already been involved with the restoration efforts. It's really valuable for them to have this as a learning tool."
State Desk on 12/27/2014