An amazing number of famous people came from the tiny little corner of Northeast Arkansas that I call home. Parhaps Mark Twain’s mighty Mississippi was an inspiration. Or maybe the smell of crop defoliant whips up the creative juices. Possibly the most notable resident of Mississippi County was Johnny Cash who rose from modest roots to become one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century.
Arkansas State University now owns the Cash home, and restoration efforts are underway. Fans will soon be able to visit his childhood home in Dyess, Arkansas, a small town located along the Arkansas Delta Byways.
The community of Dyess itself is history lesson, planned as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal Program. Five hundred poverty-stricken farm families were given a new start with a twenty or forty acre farm, a five-room, white-washed farmhouse, adjacent barn, outhouse, and chicken coop. Only white families of “good moral background” were selected. Each farmer drew an initial advance to purchase the property along with a mule, cow, groceries and supplies until the first year’s crop came in, at which time it was paid back. In three years’ time, the farmer received the deed to the house and land. The Cash family got in on this new deal.
The forty acre farm immediately adjacent to the Johnny Cash place is owned by my good moral farm family (on the other side of Johnny Cash’s temporary chain link fence). We didn’t get the land from President Roosevelt. Daddy bought it outright years ago from an attorney who took the land in trade for legal fees.
In addition to the home restoration, Arkansas State has plans to construct a museum and renovate much of the town of Dyess. The restoration buzz continues to grow. I imagine convoys of people making this pilgrimage to a place we Mississippi County residents knew was special all along.
These are exciting times for Northeast Arkansas!
talya
Grace Grits & Gardening
