Barkman House

Continuing with a travelogue of the Deep South, today's stop is Barkman House in Arkadelphia, Clark County, Arkansas. It faces Hwy 67 which runs through Arkadelphia and separates Henderson State University from Ouachita Baptist University.

The house has a deep, wide second-story porch and I've often thought it would be heavenly to sleep out there on cool fall nights. I'd like to take a peek inside but when we pass by it's either in the evening or on Sunday. Pfft.

I didn't find much on the history of the house but these few details:

The Barkman House was built for James E.M. Barkman, son of early Clark County settler Jacob Barkman who arrived in Arkadelphia around 1811. The house was not completely finished when the Civil War began, and local legend reports that piles of lumber were taken from the front yard to build Confederate fortifications.

The house is architecturally significant because of its unusual combination of Greek and Gothic Revival styles. A transitional design between antebellum and Victorian architecture, the Barkman House is a frame house. It has a hip roof with chimneys at both ends, a two-story gallery across the main façade, and two one-story wings at the rear. Its ornamentation is known as "Steamboat" or "Carpenter's Gothic."

Now owned by Henderson State University and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Oops, excuse me. That's a *gallery,* not a porch.