Kellams: It is time to talk with our friend Becca Martin Brown. We’re going to go the other way. Becca, welcome back to Ozarks at Large.
Martin Brown: Thank you so much, Kyle. Have you ever heard of Headquarters House in Fayetteville?
Kellams: Absolutely I have. That is the home of the Washington County Historical Society. They have their annual ice cream social. What else should I know about it?
Martin Brown: Well, here’s what I want our listeners, particularly those new to northwest Arkansas, to know. When you drive through that intersection between Dickson Street and College Avenue, you’re driving through the middle of a Civil War battle that took place in Fayetteville. And the reason Headquarters House is called Headquarters House is because both the Union and the Confederate armies used it as headquarters during different parts of their occupation of Fayetteville. And you can still see bullet holes.
Kellams: I mentioned that they have the annual ice cream social. Can people walk through the Headquarters House when it’s not the ice cream social?
Martin Brown: They can indeed. The house was built in 1853 by Judge Jonas Tebbetts and his wife, Matilda Winlock Tebbetts, and it’s Greek Revival. They say it’s one of the best examples of Greek Revival still standing in Arkansas. And I think that they know they never did. When they left in March 1862, he was arrested by Confederate Gen. Ben McCulloch and detained at Fort Smith, then released when McCulloch died at the Battle of Pea Ridge, and he went back to Fayetteville.
But he was warned of a plot to kill him, so he escaped behind Union lines in Missouri, came back in 1862 to get his wife and children and never again lived in the house. Headquarters to both, kind of home to none at the end, but absolutely beautiful.
And you can tour it most days. You probably need to call ahead, or you can watch for events because they have heritage school in the summer and they have all sorts of events during the year. And right now they are hosting something completely new for Headquarters House.
Kellams: And you haven’t seen it yet?
Martin Brown: I have not. I missed out. I waited too late last year when they did it the first time. They were sold out. And I haven’t yet seen it this year, but I will.
It’s called “The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story.” It’s being presented by Arkansas Classical Theatre, and they’re using the spaces of the house as their various performance spaces. But you’ll walk around the property a little bit. You’ll sit or stand in several rooms. You’ll separate into two groups, and each of you will see another Poe story alternately and then come back together and see the end. And if it doesn’t blow your socks off your feet, I don’t know what to tell you.
And shows continue through Oct. 31. And while you’re there, you’ll know where you are. You’ll be at the Headquarters House.
Kellams: Becca Martin Brown takes us the other way almost every week. Becca, thank you so much.
Martin Brown: You’re so welcome.
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