Bob has been looking for Jennifer for years.
No, this is not a love story, unless you throw in Martha, and then it is.
Martha Mitchell was born in the big Victorian house on West Fourth Avenue in 1918. She, being strong-willed and not one to hold her tongue, went to Washington, D.C., with her attorney general husband John, and was eventually credited with helping bring down the corrupt presidency of Richard Nixon. To honor her, the bypass is named for her, and over near City Hall, there's a bust of her in a park. Hero stuff.
Today, she would be attacked by Nixon defenders and apologists and by TV talking heads who would quickly dismiss her as a loud-mouthed publicity seeker who lies and who never liked Nixon anyway and who should not be taken seriously. But that's another story.
The "Bob" in this story is Bob Abbott, who in 1974 bought the house, which was built in 1887, and who has continued to try to convince anyone who will listen that the house is significant and should be maintained and should be included in Pine Bluff's arsenal of places tourists would want to visit.
To that end, he has kept the old place as a museum piece, leaving the furnishings and other items where he found them, adding in a significant amount of memorabilia and guiding hundreds of tour groups through the house across the years.
But Abbott is slowing down, as he put it, although his slow speed seems pretty fast to many folks. And he's been looking for someone to carry on Mitchell's memory and legacy for the next generation. That task has not been an easy one. He could have sold the house many times across the years, but it would have been to people who didn't care anything about Martha Mitchell but who simply wanted to live in the big, roomy house. No one can blame them, but that was not going to work for Abbott.
Then along came the Jennifer of the story: Jennifer Louviere Medeiros. She throws in the Louviere because she grew up in Louisiana and is proud of her Cajun heritage.
She had been looking for a new adventure in life, searching up and down the coast from her Florida home to Maine as she looked for a historically significant house that she could restore. She could find nothing – until she ran across an old listing for the Martha Mitchell house. She dialed the listed number and it rang Abbott's phone, and the two struck up a conversation.
The two also eventually struck up a business deal. For an amount that both have described as reasonable, the two agreed to the sale and purchase of the house. All they are waiting on now is the paperwork, with a closing date to happen sometime before the end of the month.
Medeiros, in her own words, said she got way more than she bargained for when she started looking for a unique piece of property. What she found was the home of a strong woman, a woman whose legacy and memory need to be maintained and expanded. Consequently, she has considerable plans for the house. There will be tours, of course, but the house will also serve as a retreat for women and girls, with gardens on the adjoining property and scholarships for the deserving, all wrapped in a nonprofit enterprise.
Abbott's smile takes over most of his face even on an average day, but he was just grinning ear to ear as he talked about having Medeiros take over where he left off in her attempt to put the house on the map in a bigger way. Medeiros, too, was beside herself happy with the prospect of creating something much more significant than she had ever thought possible.
The outcome will be big wins for all involved, and that includes Pine Bluff, which has had its eye on developing its historical and cultural tourism. To that end, the Martha Mitchell house should be one of the first stops on the bus tour.
Thank you, Mr. Abbott, for being patient and finding a like-minded buyer. And thank you, Ms. Medeiros, for bringing your passion for history and relevance to Pine Bluff. We imagine Martha would be proud of you both.