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Possum Grape. I kid you not. It is located in Arkansas. I traveled there.

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Advantage

Possum Grape AR

Possum Grape original art work

Possum Grape is about 10 miles past Bradford Arkansas.  Bradford is a town of about 800 people so Possum Grape folks probably travel to Bradford for quick items since Possum Grape folks have no store.  Bradford is about 10 miles from Bald Knob, a town of about 4000 people.   Bald Knob people may go to Searcy for supplies.  Bald Knob is about 12 miles from Searcy Arkansas, my town.  Searcy AR has about 20,000 folks.

I had to travel 8 miles past Possum Grape for a foreclosure listing!  Count the miles if you're smart.  I'm still in a daze wondering where the heck I've been.  I got lost in the country and had to ask a man on horseback where I was.  I was "tickled pink" to find myself back at Possum Grape!

And don't you just LOVE this original sign for the now defunct store at Possum Grape?

 

Comments (39)

Anonymous
Anita Fuller

Barbara, don't ever bother Mr. TiVo to look for Rumpole.  It will never be on again.  Borrow Don's DVD and see what we're talking about.  You should love it, and love Rumpole.

Aug 01, 2011 08:55 AM
#20
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

 Debbie, I have a hard time delegating my time.  You all need to put that strange TV show right in front of me.  If it has strong English accents, I'll be unable to catch onto what they are saying.  Accents, except Southern, do me in!

Luke, I told someone in my office, who kept insisting that there was an exit sign for Possum Grape, that there couldn't possibly be an exit sign for a non-existent town.  I guess you've made me a liar.  What does Jenna know about Thida??  And Liquor Store????   I guess I'd better explore the town better

Cliff, did humans eat possum grapes or were they just for possums?  I remember muscadines.  They were big and tasty but you had to spit out the peelings.  We were told we'd have a tummy ache if we hate the hulls.

Anita, what was Rumpole anyhow?  A nagged husband?  A comic?  My curiousity is aroused.

 

Aug 01, 2011 02:02 PM
Robert Vegas Bob Swetz
Las Vegas, NV

Hello Barbara and I love the name of this place, is it haunted? (Kidding) and I really enjoy reading all the comments from non-RE agents, it's cool because their not "Spammers" ...

Your post & photo have been featured at one of the weirdest groups at AR ...

PARANORMAL STORIES & EXPERIENCES

   
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VB ;o)
 
Aug 01, 2011 07:20 PM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Thanks, VB!  You're a real cool feller!

Aug 02, 2011 12:51 AM
Anonymous
Billy Fuller

Barbara, I got in late on this one, but want to add one more little story.  Years and years ago when I was a child, Judy Edwards, now Judy Trice of Little Rock, was on Herb Shriner's tv game show.  I believe it was called "Two For the Money".  She was on as a contestant and that was quite something back then to have a somewhat "local" gal on a nationwide game show.  When Herb interviewed her before they played the game, she told him she was from Arkansas and lived halfway between Possum Grape and Bald Knob.  (Actually she was from Bald Knob.)  Everybody back then was talking about it and it made quite a conversation piece in Searcy and surrounding areas.  Judy now lives in Little Rock, very active in the theatre community of LR and is a good friend.  Just as an "aside"...."Two For the Money" was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes.

Aug 02, 2011 01:46 AM
#24
Luke Jones
Garver - Little Rock, AR

I don't know much about the liquor store except that it's basically on the county line just as you cross into whatever that county is (Jackson, I think).

As for Thida, I understand it's a tiny settlement near the White River bottoms. Wikipedia says it's unincorporated, but it does appear to have a post office. It's south of Oil Trough.

When she was working at Bradford, Jenna told me some of her students went to Thida to meet a girl they knew. I don't recall all of the details but it ended with a bunch of men from the town coming together and viciously beating the students.

As you may know, Bradford isn't known for its forward-thinkers, and even they speak of Thida as if it were populated by nothing but barbarians.

I've never been there myself (but I have been to Nimmo).

Aug 02, 2011 06:34 AM
Anonymous
Cliff

Barbara, the hulls of muscadines can be eaten, I have eaten many of them, though like you, I would usually just spit them out and eat the center part. My mother used to make delicious pies from the hulls, and jelly from the pulp. My oldest sister used to make jelly from possum grapes, but by the time you took the seed from them there wasn't much left. You'd have to have a "bushel" of them to have enough to make anything.

Aug 02, 2011 07:34 AM
#26
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Billy, I think I know of her.  She is Carlyn Yancey's sister, isn't she.  Seems as if I remember her being on TV as an announcer or something.  My husband seems to have a claim to fame too.  He danced on that dance show that was big when he was young (local type Dick Clark show) with some girl from Searcy and I think they won.  In fact, once he sadly told me that I was the only partner he'd ever danced with and lost a contest.  : (

Aug 02, 2011 03:25 PM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Luke, that's a wild story.  I'm almost afraid to put it on this blog.  If I'd driven another 100 miles to the end of the road I may have ended up in Thida.  As a reporter, I really think you need to visit there and write a story.

Cliff, we used to be so poor we could make something out of anything.  I always thought watermelon rine pickles were pretty bad.  I guess you could put sugar with anything and make the thing edible.  I have mushrooms growing all over my front flower bed where we cut down a tree but I'm afraid they are poisonous.  If they were edible, they'd sell for high dollar in a store.

Aug 02, 2011 03:30 PM
Anonymous
Cliff

Barbara, we too were poor. We lived 12 miles out in the sticks, dirt roads all the way into town, till hiway 36 was paved. My folks, like yours, also made something out of almost everything. I never ate water melon rine pickles, but my mom used to make water melon rine preserves. I loved them. They were delicious on buttered biscuits. Making "something out of anything" as they used to do is a lost art. Those women of those days didn't use a written down recipe, They were written in their minds, and they used "a pinch" of this, a "little dab" of that, etc.   But oh how they could cook. My daddy used to say, "A farmer doesn't make a living, he just has to live off of what he makes."    

Aug 03, 2011 04:47 AM
#29
Luke Jones
Garver - Little Rock, AR

Cliff -

I am pleased to report that my wife, age 25, is able to accomplish something very much resembling the "something out of anything" you describe above. She comes from an old farming family, but I think most of her kitchen magic is of her own devices. I think it comes from a willingness to try anything, rather than just settle for the same thing only freeze-dried and laced with sodium.

I did eat watermelon rind pickles once. Jenna did not make them, and I didn't much care for them.

Aug 03, 2011 07:57 AM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Cliff, sounds as if we must be distant relatives.  Even today, I seldom go by  a recipe.  Recipes seem to call for so many ingredients that are really not necessary and are expensive.  I prefer using what is in the refrigerator to put together something.  I was just thinking of making the now-popular poppy-seed chicken but have decided it does not need poppy seeds because they don't add anything and a little jar of them cost over $3 when I checked.  I really enjoyed the fresh peas, tomatoes and cornbread as a child.

Luke, you are a lucky guy to have Jenna!  She saves a lot of money by using what is available and not heading to the grocery to buy things just to add 1/4 teaspoon or so of an ingredient.  Are you moved out of your house?  Anita wanted to know because she'd love to see the old house.

 

Aug 03, 2011 12:31 PM
Anonymous
Cliff

Barbara, I'd be right proud to be a relative of yours. Distant or close.

Aug 03, 2011 04:06 PM
#32
Anonymous
Holly

Ah yes, Possum Grape.  Where the smart Harding kids went to buy hooch.  You were less likely to run into someone here rather than Cabot. 

Sep 15, 2012 07:13 AM
#33
Anonymous
Bunny

I don't know if this is still active as I am coming in almost a year later. There was a comment about an Honkey Tonk named Dew Drop Inn. Yes, such a place did exist in Possum Grape. It was owned by GB Kennedy. Possum Grape is in White County and the liquor store is in Jackson County. It is on the county line but is in Coffyville. There used to be a Merchantile store in Coffyville as well. That belonged to the Fishers.  It was a good place to grow up.

Mar 25, 2013 11:47 AM
#34
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Bunny, your response comes through.  Thanks for the information about the Possum Grape liquor store.  Now Coffyville is another place that is just a name.  It is, according to your comment, right beside Possum Grape! 

Mar 26, 2013 06:36 AM
Anonymous
Frances Lock

Actually Possum Grape is five miles north of Bradford. Have you ever noticed that the towns are five mile apart or ten miles. There was a train stop every five mile to pick up wood and water for the steam engine. Many stops are missing between Bradford and New Port and now only known to the locals. Each had a store when people traveled by horse or by foot .

May 27, 2015 11:22 AM
#36
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Frances, that is very interesting!  I did not realize that but now that you mention it, it makes sense.  No wonder we have so many little "used-to-be" towns. 

May 27, 2015 10:10 PM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

You've received a contact message from your Contact Form on the ActiveRain network.

Message details:
From: LORETTA WILLBANKS
Subject: Potential Lead from ActiveRain

Barbara oh what memories i have of this grand place u see i grew up in possum grape lived just down the road from the mercantil my mother worked at for years selling gas and making homemade sandwiches my brother worked at the liquior store as we got older havent been to possum grape in years my grandparents passed on and the old home place burned down im sure that laverns dairy bar is shut down as well as a kid we could go down and ger a 10 cent ice cream cone that picture on the front of the store well was designed once the interstate started coming thru the store sold tshirts and caps with that on them in assorted colors many were sold and people sent them everywhere see we thought we were something once possum grape was put on the map i left home after graduation at bradford high in 1987 and moved to the big city searcy from there ive moved on but this blog has made me sit and remember the days of yesteryear when life was so much more simple and oh the fun and mischief we had growing up in good ol possum grape arkansas

Aug 15, 2022 08:20 AM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Thanks for commenting, Loretta!

Aug 15, 2022 08:21 AM