Lone Oak Tenant House Revisited

"On the southwest side of the small community of Lone Oak sits a house in great disrepair, a prime example of so many tenements common to the early farming era of the county. This house may soon meet a similar fate. Many times, as we drove past it over the years, I've commented that I "need to get some photos and measurements before it disappears!" In the winter, it's too muddy and cold. In the summer, it's too hot--and "snakey"--and "grown up." This spring of 2011 seemed to be the right time, as I noticed that more of the house had fallen and that the windows and doors had disappeared. With permission, a camera, a tape measure, a sketch pad, and a pencil in hand, we braved the already growing "jungle," as well as the active wasp and bee population, and headed for the old tenant house." (DUNCAN FARMSTEAD WEBSITE)

It is hard to believe all these years have passed, and yet, the old house was still standing the last time I drove through Lone Oak. . .although in worse shape than ten years ago. . .

I ran across some photos I don't believe I shared before and decided to start a series of posts on a few of the tenant, bungalow, cottage, and farmhouses that were once great in number throughout the area. I have touched upon them at the Duncan Farmstead website and a few at the Dell, Ar blog (which no longer is available for view to the public). These old relics have all but disappeared now, many since we moved back to the farm in 2005. Farm fields dominate today. The population of Mississippi County has greatly diminished as more and more people move away. But as along as the stories are still being told, the past will live on.

This little Craftsman bungalow sits at Lone Oak on the south side of East State Highway 239, next to the two story farmhouse of B. B. Hodge. It remains in the Hodge family, I believe. 

"Lone Oak got it’s name from a single, very tall oak tree that was a landmark for local hunters. It was so tall that during the 1882 flood, the only thing that could be seen above the water was that one lone oak. It was also the only oak tree around during dry periods. Other trees included sycamore, gum, cypress, and other general woods. The story goes that Sam Hector actually gave the community its name in honor of the oak landmark.

One of the stories that’s been handed down concerns that oak tree and Sam Hector. He was traveling down the Pemiscot Bayou in a boat one day and looked up at the big oak tree. There was a bear hugging the tree. Sam took out his rifle and shot the bear and killed him.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, the Lone Oak was found south of the Lone Oak school at the home of B. B. Hodge." (Dell, AR blog post 2012)

My favorite room is the kitchen with its metal cabinets and old porcelain sink, which I doubt were original to the house but added perhaps during the 1950s or so. This was much better than most tenant houses and cost more than the simple wood shelves and few cabinets that were more common in the tenements of this farm. I can imagine the daily activity in this room--the bean pot on the stove, the vegetables and canning going on daily in the summertime, the constant slamming of the backdoor as the family comes and goes, living as much outside with the land as inside. It was long days of work for all, but it was also a time of family and friends bonding in the tasks at hand. . .

Kitchen; Bedroom through door

Layout--BB Hodge Craftsman Bungalow
Top Lft-Living Room; Top Rt-Bedroom; Bathroom Behind Bedroom
Back Lft-Kitchen; Back Rt-Bedroom 

My very rough layout is a little confusing. The front of the house that faces the road are the top rooms.  

Kitchen

This was a very bright kitchen in its day. . . 

Kitchen

Kitchen

I can imagine a big family table sitting in this corner with its many windows looking out over the fields. 

The walls are of sheetrock. . .Please note that even though the walls in every room are deteriorating, often the holes have been made by treasure hunters looking for money or valuables that were sometimes hidden in the walls or ceiling. In many abandoned houses I have visited, any  fabric covered couches or chairs still present were also cut into shreds. 

Living Room

Over the years in the living room, it is obvious that keeping the cold winter winds at bay was attempted by many generations of families. Those clapboards were not sealed in any way. Newspaper and cardboard were pasted and tacked in layers on the inside of the clapboard originally and walls of sheetrock added. Then sometime, maybe in the 1960s, insulation and paneling were applied. 

Living Room

Bedroom; Bathroom through door

In this back bedroom, more paneling once covered the sheetrock walls. . .

Bathroom

There was no bathroom in the original house. Space taken from one of the bedrooms added an inside bath in later years. Plumbing was run from the kitchen. 

This house was once a cozy little bungalow. The numerous windows would have made it quite bright inside. There were two porches, one front and one back, that helped to extend the living space and offered cooler breezes in the hot summers. Cottages such as these have always been dear to my heart, probably because I have known so many wonderful people who lived in them. 

COMING SOON: PRESENT DAY PHOTOS

Christmas Comes To A Delta Log Cabin

 I happened upon this iconic log cabin in Bernie, Missouri (yes, it's a part of the Delta), several years ago when we arrived at White House Creations for a unique shopping experience . . .It was an added bonus that we knew nothing about. . .Finding such a place of history representing the families of our Delta past come few and far between these days. . .There was a time. . .and not so long ago and even into the latter half of the 20th century. . .that scenes such as this were not uncommon. .but with 'progress' more and more of our farm family houses fell into ruin. . .

But there was a time when even the simplest of Delta farm houses were decorated every Christmas in as grand a style as possible for the pocketbook. . .Rows of tenant houses on the back roads of farms and the countryside sported strings of lights outlining the humble porches. . .homemade wreaths on the doors. . .and a Christmas tree always in the window. . .Everyone celebrated Christmas. . .with few exceptions. . .

I was so thrilled recently when I visited Dottie's White House Creations to find that true to a love of Delta history, her old log cabin close-by was decked out inside and out with Christmas cheer. . .I just had to snap a lot of photos. . .to capture a snippet of a time long gone but still in the hearts of so many of us. . .

Dottie and I share many of the same memories of growing up in Northeast Arkansas and the Bootheel of Missouri. . .It was a way of life common to us both. . .I can also relate to her childhood stories of Missouri. . .My Duncan grandparents lived in Kennett. . .I have roamed all over the Bootheel with Daddy and my Granny. . .Life in both areas was pretty much the same. . .based on agriculture and the small towns that served the communities. . .and Christmas was no different. . .Celebrated and decorated by all, it was a time of truly great joy and anticipation. . .

No matter how common and simple. . .

By the way, for a true Delta experience from the past, you can spend the night here, too. . .Just call Dottie at White House Creations in Bernie, MO, and she will give you all the details. . .

Another Person's Trash Adds Color to the Tenant Houses

If you travel some of these back roads and see a white GMC pulled to the side and two people in the fields chasing discarded tires, just honk the horn and drive on by. . .We haven't lost our minds. . .We're not having truck problems. . .We're simply helping the local ecology and carrying on a Delta tradition. . .Old Tires. . .Spray Paint. . .Instant flower beds. . .What fun. . .

Originally, I wanted to make a border with the tires but we didn't find enough discards on our several trips out. . .Then one day I found a name brand spray paint for 1.50 a can and came straight home with it, painted those tires. and stacked them up. . .Still have to fill them with some dirt and flowers. . .That's later. . .I have another project that will bring even more color to the houses. . .Won't be long before I reveal it. . .

I painted more than the tires, though. . .Once I got started, I couldn't quit. . .benches. . .bins. . .rusted buckets. . .The only thing that stopped me was. . .I ran out of paint !!!!!

Certainly not Chic Decor. . .is it? . .but, it's exactly right for the old shotgun houses in the Historic District. . .Brings back some good memories for me. . .of the Turners. . .Cowboy. . .Cora. . .others I knew along the road. . .

So. . .in the future, if you see us on the roadside picking up tires, give us a honk and a wave. . .We'll be 'at it' again. . .

Sharecropper and Tenant Agreements 1945

I found an amazing Special Arkansas Bulletin prepared by

 THE WILSON PLANTATION on July 20, 1945 about the

farming opportunities and the various offers to families interested in the share crop or land rental. 

It was written under the War Relocation Authority for the Japanese Americans, 

but I'm sure the opportunities would apply to others. 

I have often spoken about the sharecropper/tenant and the contract

made with the land owner, so I was thrilled to come across

this actual booklet which lines out the terms of the three types of contracts available.

There is some invaluable information about the farming industry of the

area in 1943-45 also.

Talk about local history!!!!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

FARM FRIDAY

WASH DAY. . .

Sharecroppers and Tenants

 

"I have land which you need, and you have muscle which I need. Let's put what we've got in the same pot and call it ours. . .I'll give you all the land you can work, a house to live in , and a garden plot and room to raise chickens, hogs, and cows if you can come by them, and all the wood you want to cut for fuel. . .I'll get you a doctor when you are sick. . .Until the crop comes in I'll try to keep you from going hungry and naked as far as I am able. . .I'll pay taxes and I'll furnish the mules and plows and gear and whatever else is necessary to make a crop. . . This is what I promise to do.

 

You will plant and cultivate and gather this crop as I direct. . .This is what you will promise to do. . . When the crop is picked, half of it will be mine and half of it yours. . .If I have supplied you with money or food or clothing or anything else during the year, I will charge it against your half of the crop. I shall handle the selling of the cotton and the cottonseed because I know more than you do about their value. . .If the price of cotton is good, we shall both make something. If it is bad, neither of us will make anything, but I will probably lose this place and you will lose nothing. . .It's a hard contract these hard times for both of us, but it's just and self-respecting and if we both do our part and have a little luck we can both prosper under it."

from the book LANTERNS ON THE LEVEE, William Alexander Percy

 

 

When Granddaddy Magers and family arrived at Dell in 1916, he had no more than $10 in his pocket but a big dream in his heart. . .By 1919, he had bought several large pieces of property--one at Roseland, one close to Victoria, and several parcels scattered around Mississippi County--as well as the entire First Addition to Dell. . .It didn't stop there. . .He continued to buy and sell for several more decades--until he owned some of the choicest land in the area. . .Granddaddy only had an 8th grade education, but when it came to buying real estate and farmland, he was a very smart businessman.

In the beginning years Granddaddy worked his land through sharecropping or tenancy. . .From what I've been told, he was fair to his farmers and his word was good. . .This wasn't always the case with others. . .The sharecropper rarely got out of debt to the land owners. . .and many a deal went foul.

Unfortunately, many farmers fell down the tenancy ladder rather than moving up it. From the bottom rung, the hapless sharecropper could climb to share tenant if he could accumulate enough of his own equipment and money. Share tenants kept two-thirds or three-fourths of the crop, depending on how much they could furnish. If a share tenant progressed to a point of needing nothing but the land, he could become a cash tenant by paying a fixed rental. Cash tenants kept all of the proceeds from the crop. . . It sounds good. . .but. . . many farmers lost their farms or their status as cash or share tenants because of crop failures, low cotton prices, laziness, ill health, poor management, exhaustion of the soil, excessive interest rates, or inability to compete with tenant labor. Many tricks of nature (drought, flood, insects, frost, hail, high winds, and plant diseases) could ruin a crop. . .Lots of heartache went into farming in those early years.

During the Depression, families were grateful to find land available for work. . .A house was included in most agreements. . .and they had the opportunity to grow a garden for food. . .In many ways, farmers faired better than those living in the city. . .At the very least on a farm there was the opportunity to feed the family with a garden and wild game. . .Families were closer. . .Lasting friendships were made. . .Everyone shared what they had. . .and LIFE WAS GOOD. . .in spite of the hardships.

1930s Sharecropper

We share this part of our Delta history with each and every visitor to the Farmstead. . .In fact, we just might have you pick a little cotton for us while you're here. . .Always looking for GOOD help. . .

. . .from the farmstead. . .