Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to this installment of the Know the news podcast. I'm your host, Chris Swindle, metro editor for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. In this week's podcast, we look at work in Fayetteville to restore the historic Woolsey homestead with the hopes of eventually opening the site up to the public. This is in advance of a story on the topic by staff writer Stacey Ryburn that will publish in the northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette's edition this weekend.
Today on know the news, I am joined by staff writer Stacey Ryburn, who is writing the story that will publish this weekend regarding the historic restoration efforts at the Wolsey homestead in Fayetteville. We also have with us Aaron Ruby with revival architecture, who serves as the lead architect on the project. Thank you for joining us today.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Glad to be with you. Thanks for the invitation.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: I'd like to start with Aaron. There's a lot of interesting history in the Wolsey homestead, and I'm curious if you can tell our listeners a little about that history. It was originally built in 1842, I believe.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: That's right. Yeah. Beginning in the 1830s, roughly, Samuel Wolsey, and at the time he was married to Matilda Wolsey.
But in the beginning of the 1830s, I think it was Samuel and his father, John Wolsey, who had fought in the War of 1812, were searching for land in Arkansas to settle, and they landed in this region of northwest Arkansas, which I think at the time was generally not area that was to be settled by Europeans. It was still sort of freshly, I think, negotiated territory at the time. I think it was known as a lovely purchase, still contested territory, I think, from native tribes that were in the area.
But because of John Wolsey's time spent in the War of 1812, I think he had some access to this area, so he bought some acreage to establish their farmstead.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: And you've been involved with this project since the beginning. When the Fayetteville city Council first approved the resolution to begin the restoration project, you prepared a report identifying a phase plan for the work. What drew you to this project in particular?
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Well, anytime that you're asked to work on something as old as the 1830s or 1840s, that kind of piques your interest.
Those are very old structures, among the oldest in the state.
These are buildings that are almost as old as the state itself was formed in 1836.
So it's just always a joy, I think, to be involved in those buildings that are of that age.
It was also intriguing because it was kind of a little bit of a mystery in the sense that this structure was buried in the woods, a little bit long neglected and kind of forgotten about. And I think the city acquired it because it was part of buffer zone when they bought property to make way for the wastewater treatment plant that's out there now.
This was just buffer area. So I don't think there was any intention that the city bought this building. It was an accident, honestly, that this structure was on the site. From the outside, it didn't look like much pretty run down, more of a victorian looking house.
Most of the exterior was renovated and added onto in the 1880s or 1890s and then later kind of 1950s, but it was pretty run down, pretty rough looking.
But a concerned citizen knew what was inside by going inside the house. You can see the old wood frame inside the house. The frame is mortise and tenon hand hewn logs, meaning they were taking these trees down and hewing them by hand, forming, fitting together all the connections with mortise and tenon joinery and pegs to lock it all in together.
Common construction for english peoples and pretty rare in Arkansas for that time. Usually wood structures in Arkansas at that time were of log construction. This was not log. This was mortise and tenon frame. So, pretty rare.
But given the fact that the building had been neglected for so many years, probably the main reason it was still standing was because it was built so well, so that mortise and tenon frame, as rough shape as it was in, was still very sturdy. And I think the reason why the house was still standing. And so that was kind of beginning when I think the citizen kind of let the city or the mayor's office know what they had.
And that's the point where we started to look at it. And the city just basically asked the question, can you tell us what we know? And is this thing worth salvaging?
So we did that, did some more research, hired a professor at the U. Of A. David Staley, to do what is known as dendrochronology, where he goes in to take some samples from some of those wood members.
And it's basically tree ring baiting, where he takes a core sample, polishes it, compares it to a standard in the area, essentially counting tree rings to know how old that structure is. So he can take a dozen or so samples, and when ten of them come back and tell you that the wood was felled in the summer of 1842, you know with certainty that that's when the construction of that house began. And so that's how we know when it was started. You can compare that to tax records from the time and sort of put the pieces together to understand when it was developed.
So just intriguing in the sense that there's just not that many of these buildings anymore.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: And fascinating to kind of think about what it must have been like back in those days when today there's so much development around this property.
This house was here before all of that. And one more thing that makes it kind of rare is while 19th century reconstructed homesteads might be in many places around in the country, there's not that many that sit on acreage like this. So this project kind of presented a unique opportunity in that it could give visitors not only a sense of how people lived with a farmstead, but the sense of the remoteness and the reliance on the land and just the sense that you've got all of this property around you, so you have kind of a sense of that sparse population, I guess, that you wouldn't get otherwise.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: This project, it's been in the works since 2014, I think, is when the city first started. That's right. Really moving on it. And I was wondering if you could tell us, since you've been involved since the start, a little bit about that journey from then to now.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Yeah, well, like I said, in the beginning, it was really just to determine, what do we have? Is it worth saving?
The city put together a visionary committee right off the bat. So he pulled together local historians and academics, concerned citizens, people that really had a love for history, the history of Fayetteville and buildings to guide the process and to help make the decisions, to sort of have some of more of the philosophical discussions about what are we doing and why are we doing it.
So the committee met pretty regularly to work through that process.
We had a difficult decision to make in the beginning. Once we knew what we had, the decision was, now what?
We're going to restore this thing, but what are we going to restore it to? Do we restore it to the 1890s?
Do we restore it to 1950s, the 1840s? You have to make that decision.
What are you restoring it to and why are you doing it? It was pretty well decided unanimously, that its period of significance, what makes it most interesting and helpful to people in understanding it is that earliest period, the 1840s, to roughly 1870s, when I think Matilda died.
Who is buried on the grounds? Samuel and Matilda both. And some of their children are buried in a private cemetery there on the acreage.
And so that was the decision to restore it to that. So that means that anything built after the 1870s or outside that period of significance would be taken down or removed.
So there was a lot of demolition, removal, of some of that work. There was a portion of the house that was done in the 1890s that we kept so that eventually we can be able to show people how that house had changed over time. So we can explain when the house was turned over to Woolsey descendants.
Their styles change and people need more closet space, so they add on, and that sort of explains the history of how the house changed over time. And so we're going to keep that portion of it so we can be honest about its history.
But it also means that you're having to reconstruct a lot of stuff that was lost from the 1840s that was no longer there.
So we keep what is oldest. Anything that's from that period of significance from the 1840s, 1870s, we keep. But we have to reconstruct things that were lost. So what you see on the outside today, much of it is reconstructed. All of it's reconstructed, at least what you see on the outside. So the porch, the lap siding, the windows and doors are representative of a pretty typical two pen style vernacular home. So two pens, meaning one room is the kitchen living area, and then the other room is the bedroom. And then there's a very tight, winding set of stairs that go up to a loft, probably where the children slept. But real simple, nothing fancy, very economical, fairly large for its time and day. But the Wolseys had a pretty large family, so it makes some sense.
Yep. Basically just a master plan was put together to sort of phase out how we might be able to restore this in time. Most important piece, obviously, was the house itself. So that was the very first thing to focus on. But there remains on site today what's left of the smokehouse. And in addition to that smokehouse, which we think was where they grew and cured sweet potatoes over the winter, we think that they had a kind of a commercial operation in selling sweet potatoes. So we're going to restore and reconstruct that smokehouse and sweet potato curing house. And then there's an old well that's there nearby.
That's what we know is there now that dates back to that earliest period. The rest of it may come in time, depending on funding and willpower, but that means completing the farmstead, such as other buildings. They would have had, like, a barn or chicken coop, a privy fenced in yard, which would have kept the animals out. These days, we built fences to keep animals in, but back then, they built the fences to keep them out. So we need to consider all that in the context of how the property itself and acreage is used as a park for people and how it ties into the park system.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: We're going to take a quick break and then come right back. Stay with us.
[00:13:16] Speaker C: If you're enjoying this podcast, consider a newspaper subscription to the northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette or the River Valley Democrat Gazette. We have a special offer for our podcast listeners, so visit nwanline.com nwapodcast to get started. You can also click the subscribe button on our websites, nwanline.com and rivervalliedemocratgazette.com, or call us at 479-684-5509 and be sure to say that you're a podcast listener. Now back to the show.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Aaron, I realize any decisions about opening the homestead to the public, which is the end goal of this, is something that the city will decide. But from a restoration standpoint, is there a specific timeline from when that could happen? When the main structure and surrounding buildings would be ready for that?
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Not really.
I'm not aware of any timeline. I mean, I think we hope it all will be as soon as possible.
Part of the decision maybe a little bit more complicated than you'd want it to be, but the house is intended to be accessible, so we need to finish a ramp off the back end that ties to paved sidewalks into an accessible parking space.
Which begs the question, where do you put the parking lot? Or how do you give people, visitors, access to the house so they can visit it?
Is that parking lot nearby? Is it even on the same side of the street? What about modern conveniences like bathrooms, that sort of stuff? So you can't hardly do it without asking some of those other questions. So answering those questions can become a little bit more challenging because it always is tied to dollar signs and that sort of thing. So I'm not sure we know yet quite when it's going to be open, but when it is, it needs to be safe and secure, accessible, and whatever is done is done, sort of keeping in mind the bigger picture and sort of the overall master plan. And so I think the project now is going into parks responsibility. And so as we think about those things and the bigger picture of how you develop the site and deal with parking, how that ties into the master trail system needs to be considered. So still up in the air somewhat.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: That kind of turns to something I was going to ask Stacey about last night. The Fayetteville City Council approved transferring the Wolsey farmstead property from the city's utilities department to the parks and recreation department? Can you explain to our listeners why it was in the utilities department domain before and the idea behind transferring to parks and rec?
[00:16:15] Speaker D: Well, hey, Chris, this part's kind of insider baseball.
The reason it started off under the asset, as it were, the reason it started off under the water and through department is because that west side wastewater treatment plant is right next door. And of course, there's the wetlands that are all around the building and the property there. And so it was just a matter of getting the building under. I say the building. There's a few buildings, the property with the main house under the department that's going to eventually actually manage the place, which would be the parks department. Once they actually get the place up and running and it's suitable for public viewing and all that, then the parks department would oversee it instead of the water and sewer people, which has been the case up to this point.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: Now, you've been covering this off and on throughout the years. We talked about that a little bit yesterday, and I'm not sure when you first started looking at it at all, but I'm curious what it's been like since you first looked into it, seeing the project move along. I mean, you and I are not architects, but even to the untrade, and I'd imagine there's a stark difference from where it started to where it is today.
[00:17:33] Speaker D: Well, we're going to go take a look at it on Friday. The city staff is gracious enough to unlock the gate there and let us take a few pictures and whatnot. But what I can tell you is, from what I've talked about with Aaron, is that it is truly transformed. When I first saw the thing, it was years ago, I think it was. What you think, maybe 2017, 2018, something like that.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Aaron?
[00:17:58] Speaker D: Yeah, and it was barely keeping on.
And then I went and saw it again in 2020, and it was stabilized, and it looked like the building was basically floating in air with the way that you all had set it up to keep it from falling down.
But now, if air is to be believed, which I think he is, it's a full on house that you could reasonably expect to see from 170 years ago or however long it was. So it's pretty interesting. And, Aaron, I don't know if you have anything to add to just the kind of the transformation of the visuals of it over the last few.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: I mean, the one thing that's obvious, I think, from the get go, both inside and outside, is just the beauty of the wood. That's how they built back then. So they used the resources they had. And so the woods, lap siding, wood windows, doors inside, wood floors, wood ceilings, wood walls. It's just what they had a lot of, but there was a lot of time and expense and research and going into what kind of wood settlers in the 1840s had access to much different wood than we have today. If you sort of stop and think about how much the american landscape has changed over this time with regards to their forests and access to virgin growth trees and whatnot, and in knowing that in the 1840s mostly they didn't paint their homes, again, it's just a vernacular structure. It was built pretty quick, wasn't really intended to last 180 years. They didn't build that way on purpose, but we had to clad it with lap siding and wood windows and doors so that it would look correct to that period. But it wasn't going to be painted. And so what you'll notice when you approach it is just an unpainted, what appears to be an unfinished house. But we needed to find wood that was really going to hold up to the weather and not rot out in a couple of years. So it was expensive, but we found the best wood money can buy. Old growth river recovered Cyprus.
So this is antique wood that was salvaged from the bottoms of streams and rivers where they used to float these great old large trees to the mill. Some of them sank, hence the name sinker cypress, or you can get sinker oak or pine. But this is great old wood and it's just rot resistant and dense stuff. So if you look closely at the grain on the woodwork, on the lap siding, you'll see the beauty of that woodwork. And it really gives it some character and should help it last.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Well, Aaron Stacey, I appreciate you guys joining me for this and sharing your knowledge on this topic. Thank you very much.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: You're welcome. Thank you.
[00:21:10] Speaker E: In other news coming soon, Doug Thompson previews the democratic primary election in Arkansas House District 15. Al Gaspeny writes about the Marshalles Youth Initiative. Campbell Roper tells us about an english language conversation class at the Rogers Public Library. Annette Beard will attend and write about a national nonprofit organization's kickoff event as it starts building a specially adapted home for an area veteran who was injured while serving in Iraq. In the River Valley, Thomas Cicente tells the story of an area medical student from Ukraine who has been chosen to intern with NASA, and he writes about the beginning of construction for a new splash pad in Greenwood. In what's Up, Becca Martin Brown previews Dinosaur World Live, which is coming to Alma later this month. And she tells us about the upcoming Symphony of northwest Arkansas concert entitled defying expectations. Monica Hooper writes about Valentine's Day events in the area and finds a local Valentine's Day slow jam for all you music lovers in profiles. April Wallace previews the Freedom speaks event at the Arkansas Arts Academy in Rogers, an event celebrating the contributions of black people on american culture through various performances. All of this and more will be available to our subscribers on our tablet and smartphone apps and at our website, nwanline.com and rivervalleddemocratgazette.com. I appreciate you listening to this point and want to thank you for your support of local journalism. Know the news is a weekly podcast brought to you by the newsrooms of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette and the River Valley Democrat Gazette. Again, I'm Chris Swindle, your podcast host this week. Have a great weekend, and until next Friday, so long.
