It's time for lunch, but Elizabeth Dober is in no hurry to eat. She's pointing to framed black-and-white photos on the walls of the main lodge at Couchwood, the retreat built by Arkansas Power & Light Co. founder Harvey Couch on the shores of Lake Catherine. Dober is fascinated by a photo of Herbert Hoover taken in September 1927 when Couchwood was new.
The Great Flood of 1927 was ongoing, and Arkansas was one of the states hit hardest. Hoover had run unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920. President Warren G. Harding later named him commerce secretary, and President Calvin Coolidge put him in charge of the federal response to the 1927 flood.
"The flood was the biggest story of the year and it lasted for weeks, through several crests, the rescue of populations and recovery planning," writes historian John Barry. "Hoover and his staff worked diligently to exploit the coverage; no newspaper was too small. Hoover personally communicated with weekly papers from Arizona and Texas to Washington state, Nebraska and Indiana. In evaluating his strategy, the present-day political commentator James Carville concluded that 'Hoover had a better press operation than any politician I know today.'"
Those who are familiar with Arkansas history won't be surprised to learn that Couch was among Hoover's confidants. Born in 1877 near the Arkansas-Louisiana border in the Columbia County community of Calhoun, Couch took a job at age 21 as a mail clerk for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway and quickly moved up the ladder. Writing for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, Patricia Laster described Couch as the man who "helped bring Arkansas from an agricultural economy in the early 20th century to more of a balance between agriculture and industry. His persuasiveness with investors from New York and his ingenuity, initiative and energy had a positive effect on Arkansas' national reputation among businessmen. He ultimately owned several railroad lines and a telephone company and was responsible for what became the state's largest utility, AP&L."
The famous humorist Will Rogers was among those who visited Couchwood. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dropped by in 1936 while he was in Arkansas to help the state celebrate its centennial. The compound covers 170 acres and remains in the Couch family.
Dober is the granddaughter of Harvey Couch. Her father was Harvey Jr., who went by Don. She lives in Little Rock and has helped manage Couchwood for the past couple of decades. She refers to her grandfather as Daddy Couch, though she doesn't remember him. Couch died of heart disease in 1941--two years before Dober was born--in a house named Little Pine Bluff at Couchwood.
"Look at Hoover with that tie on," Dober says while admiring the 1927 photo. "They say he would go fishing in a coat and tie. Daddy Couch offered to take him fishing, but it was a Sunday and Hoover said, 'The Hoovers don't fish on Sundays.'" There also are framed photos of well-known figures who have visited Couchwood in the decades since Couch's death, including former U.S. Sens. Dale Bumpers and David Pryor. During the 1930s, Harvey Couch would host what he called the Annual Round-Up, bringing together business and government leaders from across the region. A framed program from the March 1938 event gives these directions: "When you come in the big gate, forget all your troubles. Be sure to sign the register. Couchwood is proud of its guests. Go to bed when you like and arise when you please. At meals, take as many helpings as you desire. If you don't see what you want, ask for it. Stay as long as you like and return soon. Everything is off the record."
The main lodge has eight rooms and can sleep more than 20 people. A second house named Calhoun was built a few years later. Its claim to fame is that visitors can fish off the porch. Little Pine Bluff was the next to be constructed, and Remmelwood (Couch's only daughter, Catherine, married Pratt Remmel) was built after that. The other four Couch children were boys--John Olin Couch, Don Couch, Kirke Couch and Bill Couch. Catherine Couch Remmel died in January 2006 at age 87, the last of her generation. A fifth generation of the Couch family now enjoys Couchwood with the largest crowds traditionally turning up for the Fourth of July.
When Harvey Couch was presiding over the compound, rumors would spread about the identities of important figures visiting Couchwood. Time magazine reported one year that two visitors had arrived in a plane that landed on Lake Catherine.
The main lodge was designed by John Parks Almand of Little Rock, who was part of the team that designed Little Rock Central High School. Following the school's completion in 1927, the American Institute of Architects described it as "the most beautiful high school in America." At Couchwood, Almand used red cedar logs shipped in by train from Oregon. Couch later hired sculptor Dionicio Rodriguez to design planters, outdoor seating and even a drink cooler disguised as a tree stump. Rodriguez, a Mexican native, is probably best known for his work on the Old Mill in North Little Rock.
Dober delights in showing off Couchwood and talking about "Daddy Couch." There are Indian artifacts uncovered when Lake Catherine was constructed in the 1920s, a wall devoted to AP&L history and even the plaque presented on Harvey Couch Day in Pine Bluff in 1923. Massachusetts may have the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod, but Arkansas has Couchwood on Lake Catherine.
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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the director of corporate community relations for Simmons First National Corp. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 04/26/2017