Post Cards from the Ozarks

    This memorable craft was the  Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 (aka PT13) It was used as a military trainer aircraft, of which 10,626 were built in the U.S. during the 30s and 40s. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman or Kaydet, it served as a primary trainer for the USAAF, the USN and with the RCAF as the Kaydet of World War II.     It is a conventional biplane of rugged construction with large, fixed  tail-wheel  and undercarriage, open cocpits for the student and instructor. The radial engine was uncowled, although some Stearman operators choose to cowl the engine, most notably the Red Baron Stearman Squadron.                 A favorite story for me is that the Navy version was painted a bright yellow to make them highly visible and was thus nicknamed “The Yellow Peril” by Pilot Instructors who had to take first time flyers up sometimes at the instructor...

    The Gregg House was built by Lafayette Gregg in 1871 and it is unusual in several construction details. The foundation was of large thick sandstone blocks and the outside brick walls are one foot thick. It has two massive chimneys serving eight fireplaces. A separate 1 1/2 story building is attached to the main house by a breezeway. The family referred to it as “the ice house”.  The home is surrounded by an ornamental iron fence shown in the foreground. It is located at 339 N. Gregg St., adjacent to the University.      In 1835 the Gregg family moved from Moulton, Alabama to Fayetteville where Lafayette grew up on a nearby farm. In his majority he read law and passed the bar and became a prominent local attorney. He commanded the Union’s Fourth Arkansas Cavalry during the Civil War.      He is credited with playing the key role in having the University of Arkansas located here in Fayetteville. Camera Sett...

                John Latta, an early pioneer in what was to become Washington County Arkansas. Leaving his large family in Tennessee he joined a group of explorers in the early 1830’s and traveled via the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers to reach western Arkansas. Then an arduous trip on horse and foot he arrived and claimed land near what is now Evansville on the border between Northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma. He named his parcel “The Vineyard “and upon completion of this log home brought his family west from Tennessee. He saw The Vineyard as an “industrial center” to supply early northwest Arkansas with a mill, an iron monger supplying tool making and repairs.                  John Latta was born in 1790 in South Carolina and passed away in 1861 in Van Buren AR.  H is buried there beside his wife Jane Starr Latta. The log home and its o...

                 The beautiful circular spring seen in the photo background maintains a year around temperature of 54 degrees, and has a maximum flow of 38,000,000 gallons of water every 24 hours.                    The depth of the spring is 510 feet and it is believed that part of the springs water comes from underground flow originating in the Pacific Northwest!                  The circular pool is 70 feet wide at the surface and the structure tapers to about 2 1/4 feet at the bottom.                 The spring is also the home of many happy rainbow trout! It is well worthy of your time to visit this isolated and lovely garden setting. Camera Settings: Canon XSI, None available. Post Processing: Photomatrix Pro 5.1 Location: Blue Springs Heritage C...

    I took this photo (film) as a first try at night photography about 2002. You can tell the photos age by the automobiles and motorcycles! Dickson Street is a lively night spot with many bars, dining spots. It is also the home for the Walton Arts Center a theater for first line Broadway shows and the home of the Northwest Arkansas Symphony. Dickson Street is the focus also for the annual Bike Blues & BBQ that attracts thousands of bikers nationwide. The event is the third largest bike rally in the nation.     Dickson Street is named after Joseph L. Dickson who bought a tract of 20-acres in the 1840’s for his first home anat what is now Dickson Street. Camera Settings: This was a timed film exposure and I did not keep a record at that time. Post Processing: Photomatrix Pro 5.1 Location: If Dickson Street has a funky soul it no doubt resides at the intersection of Dickson Street and West Avenue!

              Here’s a photograph of the “Frisco Depot” located here in Fayetteville. It was built in the Mission-Spanish Revival style by the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway, also known as “The Frisco Line”, in 1925 as a replacement of a very old wood structure who’s time was over.            The depot served passenger train patrons for forty years when the last scheduled train departed for St. Louis in 1965. The depot and it’s Railway Express extension now serves as the location for very popular restaurants.            The Frisco Depot and it predecessors served locals, travelers, and college students, from across the state, providing access to the University of Arkansas and Fayetteville. It is located on Dickson Street, the entertainment district of the city, which is of course appropriate to it’s new roll of fine food service. The depot is listed on the National Register of His...

                        The Arkansas Air Museum is a popular visiting spot for both locals and vacationers. Located at Drake Field in a vintage wooden hanger, it houses and eclectic collection of vintage aircraft both flyable and proud “hanger queens’. My particular favorite is the Howard DGA-6 “Mister Mulligan” of 1934 vintage. It was the only plane designed from the ground up to compete in the popular air races of the time such as the Bendix Trophy” which was held annually. Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, the designers, created the air craft to fly the entire length of the race non-stop and at high altitude. Neither of these ideas had been done before in air racing craft. Mister Mulligan not only won the Bendix Trophy but changed the way long distance aircraft were to be designed in the future. Camera Settings: Cannon XSI, unknown Location: 4290 S. School Road Ave. Fayetteville AR 72701 (479) 521-4947 Web Site: ht...

            The Walker /Stone house was built in 1845 by Judge David Walker who sold it  in1850 to Stephan Stone. Stone and his family lived there during and after the Civil War.  During the battle of Fayetteville a solid shot from Fagan’s Confederate Battery in 1864 pierced the west wall of the house. The Walker/Stone house survived the war as did the Rieff House directly across the street.             Stephan Stone and his wife Amanda Brodie Stone were public spirited citizens and supported the City Hospital, the Methodist Church and the Female Seminary. The Stones daughter Mary was the last graduate of the Female Seminary in 1860. Camera Settings: Canon XSI, f/3.5, 1/100 sec, ISO 100 Post Processing:  HDR with Photomatrix Pro 5.1 Location: 207 West Center Street, Fayetteville AR

                        The rattle of musketry and the sharp crack of canons accompanied by the curses, cries, yells and screams of those caught in the madness of battle has long  been silenced here at the site of the first Archibald Borden farmhouse located in the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park.             On December 7, 1862 Confederate forces took up positions along the hilltop and just a few feet from the Borden farm house and awaited the Union forces assault from the valley below the hill. The Borden family had fled some distance to await events with friends.             The bloody battle raged throughout the day and the house was soon requisitioned as a hospital for the many Confederate wounded. Both forces took heavy causalities and after dark the Confederate forces began a fighting wi...

Fitzgerald Station - Butterfield Overland Mail Company Stone Barn - Springdale AR This dilapidated old stone barn located at the once Fitzgerald Station on the farmstead of the same name was a stopping place for coaches of the Butterflied Overland Mail Company that moved mail and paying travelers from St. Louis to San Francisco beginning in 1858. One of many the barn and station provided a place to change tired horse teams and to give customers a chance to stretch their legs and get a quick bite to eat while the tired horse team was unhitched and a fresh team from the barn was hitched up and readied for the next trail section. The complete trip from St Louis to San Francisco was 25 bone jarring days but was state of the art travel then!               Many of us have memories of black and white movies of the stagecoach racing to out run the bad guys (black hats) with generally the U.S. cavalry showing up in the ...