A Ruined Palace

          History has been a favorite study course over the years: not enough hours in my college schedule for electives in history, though. To feed my hunger, I watch the History channel, make selections for the DVR , read biographies, and have a soft spot for Rehab Addict: Nicole works to fuel her passion by restoring abandoned, on the auction block, due for demolition, historic homes.

            Even the shotgun houses of tenant farmers or plantation slaves hold fascination. Some of these relics have been reclaimed and are now used for overnight accommodations along Hwy 61 in Mississippi. Then there’s the Johnny Cash home in Dyess Colony, a Delta Byways Historic Site. Johnny would not know the place; it has been restored and furnished with period pieces including donations from the Cash family treasures.

            A fine line must be noted when determining whether to become involved with National Register of Historic Places. Especially if the historic place is an old home, care should be taken to research the stringent requirements for compliance with the US Department of Interior. Some shy from such dictates. A marker on the doorpost designating the home as historic with the date of the original structure would be a nice touch, adding to historic significance.

Original Home, pre-Civil War home.

            I’ve grown especially nostalgic regarding old homes as I’ve worked extensively on updating family history with new information available through various websites and family interviews. Those family members who lived in The House on Harrison Street, including my brother and me, watched Camden, Arkansas, grow and change from a remarkable vantage point.
Across the street from the Ouachita County Court House, the First Methodist Church, and the Ouachita County Public Library, the house served as home for the entire group of Gordon siblings at one time or another. From the original structure dating pre-Civil War, to the new three-story (full attic) dwelling built in 1913 and remodeled in the early 1940’s, that house is filled with family legends. It was a forever home, until one August afternoon in 1959.

A 1932 winter scene of The House on Harrison Street

            A particularly poignant story I’ve written for a future book of creative non-fiction, a family history, has a working title, “Oh, Nana!  It’s really flaming now!” While I understand with clarity the reasons for the house being razed after the fire, my desire is to infuse life into it and other family homes that no longer exist. I’ll attempt that feat through stories that beg to be told.

When I see an old house neglected and in ruin, when I look up at “Cracker Barrel Portraits” someone has thrown away, I wonder at the tales contained within the walls, marvel at the lives once lived by those gazing at me as I devour a delicious breakfast.

            A quote from the Arkansas Gazette this morning is from a Chinese poet with a soliloquy on “Passing a Ruined Palace.”

            “Heavy dew. Thick mist. Dense grass.

            Trees grow on the broken balconies.

            Willows choke the empty moat.

            Fallen flowers litter the courts…

            The road has vanished. The landscape the same.

            The works of men are being obliterated.

            When I pass by the broken gate

            My horse whinnies again and again.”