SEARCY, Ark. – The Pioneer Village in Searcy held their 11th annual Spring Fest and celebrated their 50th anniversary.
The Pioneer Village is a historical recreation of a late 19th-century village, complete with buildings and actors posing as men and women of their time.
Attractions for the weekend’s festivities include square dancing, live music, pioneer craftsman demonstrating woodworking, blacksmithing, spinning, beekeeping and more as well as pioneer games for children. There were also be vendors, food, kettle corn, and live animals.
The Pioneer Village has been around since 1968 and includes buildings that were actually built back in the 1800’s, including the Gordon House, a log house constructed back in 1865.
Spring Fest was held on Saturday, May 5 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Sunday, May 6 from noon to 4 p.m. The village is located at 1200 Higginson Street in Searcy.
The Pioneer Village is a preservation project of the White County Historical Society, a non-profit organization. For more information please call (501) 580-6633 or (501) 278-5010. You can also visit the Pioneer Village Facebook page for more information about this weekend and future events. For more information about the Pioneer Village, please click HERE

Costumed Civil War soldier guides, crafters, chuck wagon cooking, live music, farm animals, square dancing, clogging, food, pioneer demonstrations set in a collection of late 19th century buildings, farm equipment, and other items of historic interest saved from throughout White County by the White County Historical Society.
​For more information visit the Pioneer Village Here

Department of Arkansas Heritage 

​​The Chism House in Logan County is one of the oldest two-story log houses with a dog trot in Northwest Arkansas. It was built by Dr. Stephen Chism in 1845 on homesteaded property 22 miles south of the Arkansas River as a wedding present for his first wife, Jeanette Logan. In the 1860s, the house was sold to the William Wayne Williams family.
​The house is still owned by the Williams family, and an extensive restoration of the house was recently completed. Visit http://chismhistorichouse.com for more of this home’s history, including many photos of the restoration process. #AuthenticArkansas
(Photos from http://chismhistorichouse.com)

Calling all archeology enthusiasts: Institute research station sets open house for March 19
ARTS AND HUMANITIES · 3/4/2016 · EMILY BEAHM
On top of beautiful Petit Jean Mountain, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute is home to one of the 10 research stations of the Arkansas Archeological Survey. The mission of the Arkansas Archeological Survey is to research and protect Arkansas’ archeological sites, preserve and manage information and collections from those sites, and share what we have learned with the citizens of Arkansas.
The Arkansas Archeological Survey, along with the Arkansas Archeological Society, participates in an annual outreach event called Arkansas Archeology Month. In celebration of Archeology Month, the WRI research station is holding an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 19. Although the research station welcomes visitors any time of the year, we are planning many fun and educational activities for our open house day.
The research station at the Institute is located in what is called The Teaching Barn. This barn and the surrounding buildings in the “Heritage Farmstead,” as it is termed, are modeled after a real farmstead owned by the Westphal family on Petit Jean Mountain from about 1900 to 1953. The location of the orchard, vineyard, smokehouse and cellar house are all based on the real Westphal farmstead, which was located on the north edge of the mountain. In addition to the station “barn,” the smokehouse and cellar house will be open for touring.
We will have both prehistoric (before Europeans arrived in Arkansas) and historic artifacts on display. You are welcome to bring artifacts to be identified, but we do not do appraisals or allow buying or selling of artifacts at our events. You will have a chance to try your hand at spear throwing using an atlatl or play toli, a traditional Native American stickball game. There will be crafts including make-your-own petroglyph, a pictograph wall, making cordage and decorating pottery using prehistoric techniques.
We are going to have a couple of demonstrations as well. Ben Swadley, superintendent at the Parkin Archeological State Park, will demonstrate how Native Americans made their stone tools and arrow points by doing some flintknapping. For a historic perspective, Paul Glidewell is going to demonstrate some historic woodworking techniques.
The WRI station is developing a Native American garden at the station. Similar to the Plum Bayou garden designed by Dr. Elizabeth Horton at the Toltec Mounds research station, we will plant species that were used by Native Americans before the widespread use of corn around A.D. 1000. These ancient crops include sunflower, goosefoot, maygrass, little barley and a particular line of squash. At our open house you will be able to try out gardening in our garden with replica Native American gardening tools made out of stone, wood and antlers.
From noon to 2 p.m. ROOST (Revitalizing Ozark and Ouachita Seed Traditions) will host a seed swap at the open house. You can participate in the seed swap and help preserve Arkansas’ agricultural heritage by bringing your open pollinated seeds, their stories and other associated information to share with others.
I hope you will come join us for a day of history, exploration and hands-on learning for all ages!
For more information on the open house, contact Dr. Emily Beahm at (501) 727-6250 or [email protected].
Originally posted here 

​The Dr. Stephen N. Chism House is a historic house in rural Logan County, Arkansas. It is located north of Booneville, on the east side of Arkansas Highway 23 about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of its junction with Arkansas Highway 217.
It is a two-story log dogtrot house, with two log pens flanking an open breezeway, with a gable roof for cover. Built about 1844-45, it is believed to be the oldest log building in the county.[2] Log Builder Paul Glidewell completed the complete restoration of the house in late 2013.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.[1]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Logan County, Arkansas

References

1. ^ Jump up to:a b National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. Jump up^ "NRHP nomination for Dr. Stephen N. Chism House" (PDF). Arkansas Preservation. Retrieved 2016-05-21.

The final direct male descendant of Dr. Steve and Janetta Chism’s visited the Chism House for the first time last week.
A native of Seattle, Wash., Bill Chism said he had never been to Arkansas until last Monday morning, but because he was already planning a trip to Oklahoma City, he thought he should make a drive into the little town in western Arkansas named for his family.
The great-great-grandson of Dr. Stepheb and Janetta Chism, Bill Chism said he has been aware of the Chism House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is believed to be the oldest remaining two-story dog trot house in Arkansas, his entire life.
Chism’s father, Ben Chism was, as a child, brought by his father, Alva Titsworth Chism to view the home in Chismville, Bill Chism said.
Alva Titsworth Chism was born in 1885 and was alive when Bill Chism was born in 1952. Alva Chism is the son of Ben Boone Chism, who was a son of Dr. Steve and Janetta Chism.
Ben Boone Chism had three daughters and three sons, Bill Chism explains. One son died as an infant, a second son had only daughters and the other, Alva Chism, had only one son and one daughter. That son, Ben Chism is Bill Chism’s father.
Bill Chism, who will turn 62 in November, has no children.
The home, which Dr. Chism built as a wedding present for his first wife, Janetta Logan – the daughter of the man for whom Logan County is named – was built in about 1845 and while it continued to stand, it became so dilapidated it was one of the first historic properties named to a list of endangered historic places.
Though the fireplaces have not been rebuilt as yet, Paul Glidewell of Booneville, at the behest of current owner Missy Revely, has restored the property to its former glory using as much of the original timber as possible.
When necessary Glidewell supplemented original material with other which met a stringent criteria to keep the home as authentic as possible in relation to when it was built. Gildewell did so utilizing period era tools.