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128 year old house for sale in Searcy Arkansas. It's a beauty.

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Advantage

This picture showed up in our Multiple Listing Service.  It grabs your attention, doesn't it?

Built in 1883

The information given indicates that it was built in 1883!  The house also overlooks the river in a small town near Searcy.  Sleuths love puzzles so I will not tell where it is right now.  Here's another photo.  Price is $97,500 if you want me to sell it to you.

Old house Searcy AR

We toured it and as we were leaving we noticed the top of the roof.  So, Sleuths, you tell me what these things on this roof are for.  Decoration?  Lightning rods?  I'm puzzled.

Roof ornament

Show All Comments
Bob & Carolin Benjamin
Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ
East Phoenix Arizona Homes

Maybe those things on the roof are to keep birds away ???

May you get qualified buyers and get a quick sale and fast closing. All the best.

Oct 12, 2011 03:27 PM
Anonymous
Debbie Wantulok

I know that house...on the way to George Town in...West Point?  Neat ole' house...we lived in one that old...but I hardly think it was as neat...it may overlook the river but I don't think it will ever flood...high side...only 97,000...how many bedrooms or square footage...I wonder what it cost to build originally and what it would cost to replace?

 

Oct 12, 2011 05:00 PM
#2
Anonymous
Debbie Wantulok

The roof?  Do you think it was what covered the crown with wood shingles or tin roofing?  It would be the fancier version though...I wonder if anyone ever put Christmas lights through it?  OK...I'm done.  Any OLD pic's of the house?

Oct 12, 2011 05:04 PM
#3
Anonymous
Debbie Wantulok

Directions to property: Take Hwy 36 E from Kensett to West Point. Turn Left at the intersection of Hwy 323 and 36 E. Go around the curves and house is on the right on the corner of Hwy 36 E and Hickory St

Just because...

My Luke says to keep this one for him...so there goes your retirement...he turns 12 on Saturday.

Oct 12, 2011 05:18 PM
#4
Suzy Ribeiro
Douglas Elliman Real Estate - Quogue & Westhampton Beach - Quogue, NY
Douglas Elliman Real Estate Hamptons & North Fork

The spindly metal trim on rooftops is for... here's your answer... absolutely NOTHING! It's actually called roof CRESTING. It is usually fabricated out of wrought-iron, but, the cresting on this home looks like it is made from thin sheet aluminum or steel. Roof cresting doesn't serve much of a purpose other than to look pretty. Cresting was an architectural hallmark of the Second Empire style, imported from France in the 1860's. It is more common on ornate Victorian and Mansard style residential properties. Many properties lost their original cresting as the material deteriorated, owners removed the cresting instead of upkeeping or restoring it because it was only for decorative purposes. In some regions, lightning rods and snowguards were matched. Even some properties had balconettes or metal window boxes attached for decorative purposes too.

Oct 12, 2011 06:35 PM
Brian Dunshie
Russ Lyon | Sotheby's International Realty - Paradise Valley, AZ
Realtor - Arizona Biltmore,Arcadia,Paradise Valley

This looks like a great home, and wow, 128yrs old - Best of luck on a quick, and full price offer!

Oct 12, 2011 09:07 PM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Benjamin Realty.....thanks!

Debbie, you are the champ!  You found it before Ms Anita got out of bed.  Many folks pass by it as they go to Georgetown for the famous catfish dinners which I have not yet had the taste of.  I have no old pictures yet.  It was been updated tremendously inside.  But the "dated" charm is still there and it is so peaceful on the porches.

Oct 12, 2011 11:06 PM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Suzy, thanks for a great explanation of what the trim is for!  I've never heard of roof cresting before but what you say makes perfect sense.  It this one was built in 1883 the cresting was as fashionable as our picture windows were in the 50's or our two-car (or more) garages are today.  And how about the fashion here in Searcy of having uncovered cement floors as the ultimate in new expensive homes? 

Brian, thanks.

Oct 12, 2011 11:10 PM
Anonymous
Anita Fuller

Good grief, Debbie:  do you ever sleep?   You sure beat me to this one.

I have passed by this house long before the One Stop Catfish House opened in Georgetown.  My mother's brother and other relatives lived in West Point for many years, so we drove by this house all the time.  I've always been fascinated by it, thinking it was some sort of something during the Civil War.....being right there overlooking the river and all.

I wouldn't have had a clue as to those decoration thingees on the roof.  I'm thinking that I probably never even noticed them.

Barbara, you MUST go to Georgetown for the best catfish you'll ever taste.  If Dude won't take you, then Bob, Don, Paula and I sure will.  Just name a date.

Oct 13, 2011 02:37 AM
#9
Anonymous
Debbie Wantulok

Woohoo!  I can't imagine beating Ms. Anita.  The hill might have had some significance with the civil war...if it did I want to hear stories...but if the house was built in 1883...wouldn't that be about 20 years after the civil war?

Ms. Anita:  No, I never sleep...

Has the fish house re-opened after the last flood earlier this year? I haven't heard. We haven't been down there since then.  Make that date on a Saturday! I want to come too!   Even we have been to have catfish down there.  It's great!  They know their fish and it is fresh...they will even show you.  Luke was fascinated...the only thing...no one mentioned that you better have old fashioned cash...no machines... they are GREAT pepople. This time of year the drive should be beautiful.

 A good portion of our congregation have their roots in Georgetown...I love the stories and can just imagine them walking the train trussel and just where Sis. Oletta would drop the tools through the buckboard so she wouldn't have to work but go back and pick them up along the road. 

Learned something new about the roof cresting...leave it to the victorians to have something that serves absolutely no pupose whatsoever but for decoration.  Vainity and vexation for the maintainer.  I'm surprised that it has survived the 128 years.

 

Oct 13, 2011 03:57 AM
#10
Anonymous
Anita Fuller

I will stand behind my belief that this house has history in the Civil War.....and I do realize that war was over in l865 or so.  I think Barbara's information is incorrect.....and it has been on several occasions.

I think it would be great fun go get as many of the Searcy Sleuths together, and you Debbie and Luke and Barbara and Dude and go to Georgetown for lunch.  Let's start working on it.

 

Oct 13, 2011 10:57 AM
#11
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Anita, no sour grapes because you were beat, please.  My date of construction came from the listing sheet which probably came from the courthouse, which probably came from some old timer's memory as best he could remember.

Debbie, I loved your last paragraph about the victorians having things that served no purpose but decoration.  Actually, you'd not be able to see this cresting unless you are up close and examining the roof.  We started to drive off and my associate who was with me noticed it and I jumped out and had to do the picture.

Mary, you'll have to plan a trip to Arkansas.

I pledge to all of you that I am going to go try that fish.

Oct 13, 2011 02:42 PM
Don Thompson
Donthomp Associates - Sunnyvale, CA

Ya'll can see all sorts of Victorian decorations on houses up at Eureka Springs. That place is covered with Victorians.

On another note, I saw a word used twice in the comics today. Frienemy. I can't remember ever seeing it used before. Wickipedia says it was first used in print in 1953. Well, not in my neck of the woods.

Anybody familiar with that term?

"Frenemy" (alternately spelled "frienemy") is a portmanteau of "friend" and "enemy" that can refer to either an enemy disguised as a friend or to a partner who is simultaneously a competitor andrival.[1] The term is used to describe personal, geopolitical, and commercial relationships both among individuals and groups or institutions. The word has appeared in print as early as 1953.[2]

Barbara, do you have any frienemies in the real estate business?

Be sure and read about One Stop here.


Don from Marco Island, FL

Oct 16, 2011 02:35 AM
Luke Jones
Garver - Little Rock, AR

I've always loved this house. I've been told West Point has the oldest cemetary in White County.

And $97,000? That's amazing. You said you toured the house, Barbara, but no interior shots? I'm wondering how well the former owners kept it up.

Oct 17, 2011 04:06 AM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Don, I have never heard of that term either.  But I do like it.  I think I may have several in the real estate world. 

Mary, that's a good description.

Luke, I think your ghost remains in Searcy.  I saw this guy walking down the street with a beard and looked like this picture of you that you have on this activerain.  Then there was a guy riding a bike and also looked like you.  I did go inside the house at West Point but the house is like most old ones.  It has been changed to make it more comfortable for today's living.  One thing I did like and is probably original was the window construction upstairs.  The windows go to the floor....like the ones in the Searcy Art Gallery.  You KNOW those would not pass code today.  Somebody could be knocked through or fall through to their death below.

Oct 17, 2011 04:41 AM
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