Georgetown, Arkansas. You've gotta be going there because you can't drive by!

The bridge was across the White river. There isn't anything left but a couple of concrete columns on land and this location can only be reached by boat. As a kid, me and other boys tried to walk the old railroad trails but with all wood bridges gone we never got to the river. I have been by it many times in a boat but nothing else left. The center columns were blown up in the late 40s or early 50s. I have heard different dates. I had planned to retire to Georgetown but since the town still gets cut off yearly, I have decided I don't want to live there. I still own property but will probably sell it. As someone said: It is a dying community which is sad.

In the distant past, this town was as close to a lawless town as you can get. It was at the intersection of the White and Little Red rivers. When rivers were the "freeways" of the day and all merchandise moved by river, it was THE town to stop at to wet your whistle and a few other lawless things. The town had several salons with gambling parlors and several houses of prostitution. Story was that one house was by river, one by train tracks for fast service. I know of 1 man that was killed because he won $800 in a card game, he was killed by several men (I heard 8 but I also heard less) and the townspeople took them out and hung them on a tree as a warning. There was no law. The town "took care of their own". In the 20s, there were several bootleggers that worked in the woods. Several "government men" disappeared in the woods trying to find their stills. I heard 2 old men talking in the 70s. Both are now dead. They were the 2 main bootleggers and one asked the other "I killed agent X and Y who did you get?". The other said "I shot agent A and B but who killed agent C?". It seems that no one could figure out who killed C. There were several others working in the woods besides those 2. They went on to discuss their favorite methods of disposing of the bodies.

The Railroad Bridge is gone. The only thing left is the jetty on the east bank of the river and a few cables laying in the water. The railroad was the AM&NO railroad. The name of the train that traveled it was the "MOOSE" In Georgetown there was a spur line that went to the river (just above the boat ramp about 400 ft to the Old Stave Mill. They also use to salt down catfish in barrels and ship them everywhere. I have a few old pictures. I was a Captain on River Boats on the White River for 35 years.

Yes Ms. Duncan, I was one of your art students. You knew me as Keith Bradley and we are friends on facebook. I grew up in Georgetown. I had a hard time comparing the sleepy little town that I knew to the "lawless" town that I heard about. But I saw even in the 70s that the town still had this attitude to "take care of it ourselves vs. calling police". A neighbor bought a motor cycle either without a muffler or a loud muffler. Problem was he liked to get drunk and ride it up/down the streets of town at 1am. He got a note to stop "or else". He didn't and he got shot with a double barrel of rock salt. He had to go to the hospital and get the salt dug out of his back. He got a note saying "next time it will be lead". He never did it again.

Yep Keith I remember that incident. I don't want to say who it was for they're both dead and gone now. But he never did ride that bike again around the curve. I will say the man that did it usually was seen with a walking stick, a toe sack slung across his shoulder and a hurricane type lantern. He always had a 12 guage Ivory Johnson shotgun close by usually wrapped in an oil cloth.

Barbara, After I talked to you on the phone I decided to take up your suggestion and post my information asking for any information on my family.
My great grandparents were William Jefferson & Leona Josephine Haynes, Surratt. They are buried at the Nelson Cemetery, which is located just before you get to Georgetown. Their oldest son Tossaco Surratt, as other Surratt's are buried there, also.
Uncle Toss was the captain of the family's riverboats and some of his siblings were raised on those riverboats. They would tie the riverboats below the hill along the White River at Georgetown when they were not being used for fishing. They would pull them on the bank during the winter months.
Among those siblings was my grandmother. She was the youngest born in 1909. Her name was, Mary Dorothy, Surratt. She married my grandfather who was William E Taylor.
I have a partially damaged but visual picture of those riverboats, that my Uncle Tommy Taylor gave to me. I would like to try and post it sometime. I have several relatives that lived in Georgetown and are buried at other cemeteries there.
My grandfather William Taylor worked on the railroad there also. I have an old picture of that in which I would like to post also.
If anyone would have any information on my family, I would greatly appreciate it, and thank you Barbara for the suggestion to post on here.

Diane, My father would tell us stories of living with uncle Toss and aunt Bonnie in the mid 1920's. I don't know if they are the same family as yours. He is Calvin Dodson and he married Eunice Henderson who also lived in Georgetown. Aunt Bonnie and her daughter Cosy and a lot of the rest of the family moved to Toledo, Oh. in the 40's where I was born. I remember visiting when I was young and always going to the store to get a coke and fireworks.

My grandfather and a partner had two boats on the White River, stationed in Clarendon in the early 1900s til about 1948. They were all up and down the White River. His name was Sanford E Hutson Senior and his partner Mr. Romunder (? spelling). The boats were names Sanford E Hutson. My dad, SE Hutson Jr. worked on one of the boats as an accountant and in 1948 set up the Hutson Drug Store in Clarendon. I was born in 1943 as Sanford Hutson III... Lived in Clarendon until 1952 when my mom and I moved to Memphis, TN. The White River Bridge at Clarendon was taken down this past year. It was the only way to get from Helena to Little Rock in the early 1900s. A change of times for sure. I am sure my grandfather had one or both boats up NE in the Georgetown area in the 1920-40s from time to time. They carried a LOT of cargo. Had a lookout tower at the back of the boats and a stall smoke stack. I had two photos years ago and now just a painting of one Sanford E Hutson boat made from an old photograph from the 30s.

Barbara, I just visited Japton, AR Sunday, driving around old roads in Madison County and getting out of the Fayetteville/Springdale area for a 3 hour drive with my wife.. Only store there closed in last 4-5 years and only about 300 people in the immediate"town" area but 1300 over a wide range of gravel roads in the "Japton Community" area. GEORGETOWN in Madison County, about 3 miles north of Japton on 285, must be the twin town brother on the one in NE Arkansas on the White River. LOL

Barbara: One last comment. The Georgetown in Madison County is an Unincorporated community and interesting reading on just how an unincorporated entity is governed and financially supported. The Richland Township is in the area and appears to be where judicial matters are handled and, if not, I think it goes on to Huntsville for governance if really important.
Learning a lot as result of your Georgetown great information and history up there in NW AR on the White River.. Thanks again, Barbara. Dr. Hutson

Brian Bradley.
Thanks for your comment a couple of years ago. We like traveling the back roads of AR, since my grandfather was a riverboat captain from Clarendon in the early decades on the 1900s. I note that you said Georgetown was at the junction of the White and Little Red Rivers, but the AR state map shows Little Red joining the White a few miles north of Georgetown and Hiway 36 going there from Searcy. That does not count the winding and winding of the White at that point, a lot longer than a direct crow flight of 3-4 miles. LOL... You have perked my interest about going there and getting a guide to take us across the river to the east and perhaps all the way up to the actual junction of the White and Little Red rivers... What a scenic boat trip that would be, as when my grandfather traveled it up from Clarendon... The old Clarendon bridge there was blown up last year. Sad days. We owned 400 acres on the Old River at one time, connecting the Cache and White rivers but blocked on both ends in the 1940s.
Be safe during these times and to Barbara if she is still reading comments here.
Sanford Hutson III NW Arkansas

Gosh Barbara, I just love the old days with old railroad stations, narrow bridges, old wooden buildings, sputtering cars and the serenity of old, small towns and everyone knowing everyone else in town.. Not a lot to do, like today during this Covid-19 pandemic. We need to know how to become less anxious nowadays and maybe the book you mention would be a good read. Social media back then was a wall dial phone with separate ear and mouth piece or being able to yell loud down the street. TV, what's that, and PC stood for "Piece of Cake"... LOL