There are a couple of really neat waterfalls in the Madison County Wildlife Management area South of Eureka Springs that we'd like to show you 1 is called Rd 299 falls.

But we may have to come up with a better name than that for it.

So getting to Road 299 falls takes a bit of detailed directions, which you can find on the etn website in my blog for this episode along with the GPS coordinates.

You can get to the bottom of the falls by following a little trail off to the right which is worthwhile taking because you'll then get the full effect of these falls at the base.

You'll want to spend some time here to take it all in and explored the entire Bluff line and all that it has to offer.

So call it Road 299 Falls Sala Terry Falls or what have you.

You can't beat it, especially when these falls are only 100 yards or so from the road?

Now the next waterfall is only 100 feet off the Rd glory be falls.

Although only 16 feet in height glory be is still impressive to say the least.

Now off to the less of Glory Be Falls is glory be cascade.

Keep in mind when the trees are in full foliage.

A good portion of this cascade may not all, be visible.

There are a couple of other falls in the Madison County Wildlife Management area, but they're not as easy to get too.

As the ones we've shown and we still might feature them in a future segment.

The old one room, schoolhouse far and few between in this day and age.

George Washington Masters shown here in this picture holding a baby raised the funds to build the Concorde schoolhouse in 1886 Masters was Karen Masters Great Grand Father.

He was a circuit rider preacher in.

The corner of these 4 states going through the area and when this area was opened up to settlers.

He settled here and gathered the funds for the schoolhouse and church.

It was a United Brethren church, my great Grand Father George Washington Masters was.

Milton Wright, who was in Ohio and Milton writes the father of the Wright Brothers.

My great grand father liked him so much that he named his youngest son, Milton Wright Masters.

Not many people like their boss that much, so there is a connection.

There they gathered the funds and it was used for a church and a schoolhouse for many years.

Any celebration got too big for the houses, which were 10 by 10.

They would come to the schoolhouse to celebrate and I heard the graduation parties were great and the number of school kids here.

I guess varied from year to year.

So 27 to maybe 40 something kids.

Something like that, from what I've seen up the records.

I only have the later records.

That's cool only went about 3 months a year because this was a poor area.

However, a lot of him went on to high school this only went first through eighth grade.

So they had a pretty good, solid education, even though it lasted only 3 months out of the year.

They did a lot of people in this area were very concerned with education.

The stove was refinished by McKinley wings who is not an engineer, but he engineered the Christ of the Ozarks statue he could build anything.

And he pre finished a lot of the old stoves in this area.

Worked on this schoolhouse as part of the community for many years.

1946 was the last year, students attended class here after the area schools consolidated.

The 1886 Concorde schoolhouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, the building is also available for weddings.

And so it stands as a lasting symbol of solid early American learning in these Ozark Hills, the 1886 Concorde one room schoolhouse.

When John and Penelope Newton came to Arkansa from Alabama during the 18 forties.

They built this stately mansion in elder Radko today.

It happens to be the only antebellum home in town.

That's open to the public.

John and Penelope Newton at first started a cotton plantation in the area of sham pinole northeast of El Dorado.

Plantation was doing really well, he, in Penelope had 6 children and they started to think education.

We need to get these young people educated and they had just started up a female Academy here in El Dorado in the town proper which was very small.

So the main drive for this house was to move into town to educate the children so about 1846 time frame.

They started beginning working on the hub itself.

Now they still lived on the plantation and had full operation of the plantation going at the time.

It was being done the builders and everything gentlemen were paid a dollar a day there boys were paid 50 cents a day to build and complete the home lumber was all locally sourced and then everything else.

Plant paint furnishings rugs carpets, textiles, all of that all came by riverboat from New Orleans.

Thing would stop at Champagne or landing, which was just down the way a little bit come off of the River boats loaded onto wagons and they make it into town to furnish the home.

It was completed in 1849 and then, everyone had moved in years after that, the home was always full.

So with traveling ministers traveling teachers different artisans in the area young people.

It almost became like a boarding house from a lot of what we found and then just always full of people activity in motion going.

And it was actually moved half a block from its original location right originally.

It's not on Peach Street and it faced more towards the north and then when the rights.

Mary Alabama and her husband, Colonel Right sold it in the very last of the 18 hundreds.

It ended up in Garretts hands about 1910 and they wanted to save the home.

They didn't want to tear it down, which was the main consensus at the time so Mr.

Garrett was heading up forbearance and thought to save it preserve it.

But he didn't want it in the same place he wanted his home built there.

So we had it lifted put on rollers are logs an rolled down the Hill and turned at the same time that he had it rolled so that it would actually end up exactly where it is today and then he went ahead and he built his Garrett mansion.

Now the Garrett Mansion is completely gone, but the Newton Alice is still here.

And then the process of that movie.

You think that some of those original columns may have been lossed that's quite proud from what we can take from the look of it in the way it's written and everything.

I think they lost the entire front ports, possibly during the move.

They lost the for external chimneys for the fireplaces and so they put them internal but when the foundation took back over an restored.

The place in the 70s.

They notice that the internals weren't right and then they found some blueprints from back and they went and.

Put back the for fireplaces where they were supposed to be.

One thing that really stands out in the entry hallway is a life size portrait of a young woman by the name of Mary Miles.

So Paula what is the story here of Mary Kerrigan Miles in this portrait well, she was a young woman from Washington.

As we know it.

Now, it is old Washington and she came over to be in her cousins wedding in elder Radko and she met the love of her life, Walter Miles and this was taken the day that she was.

And this was her bridesmaids dress and about a year later, Mr.

Miles and Miss Kerrigan got married and 3 years after that, her father came down with pneumonia and she went over to take care of him and when she was over, there caring for him.

She also passed away so she left one year old little boy at that time and what they did is they took the portrait.

Or the photograph, and they painted this pinchinat life size portrait of Mary in memory of her and this is not the only town place in El Dorado, but it will hold it and the other one is at all.

Why is another one?

Yeah, there were 2 done and one of them is that still in Old Washington that is what I've been told yes.

The Newton House Museum also seems to be haunted.

There have been sightings of this man John Wright, who married the Newton's daughter.

When a downtown thrives, it's always a good thing such as here on the court square in Searcy Town, USA winner of the National Small Business Revolution, so let's just see what's all going on here.

Well, we're very hopeful that Cersei would win the small business revolution.

It's just been an amazing experience.

So far last fall in October.

I just started watching this show.

It came across my Facebook feed and it was intriguing.

It was interesting to watch.

These makeovers with small businesses and I serve with the Chamber of Commerce and we try to help the small businesses here in Searcy and it's all of a sudden.

Applications and I thought well I'll just supply Searcy and so I didn't tell anybody.

It was kind of just done on the down low and so I ask a few questions with some city leaders and they didn't know what I was doing so.

I filled out the application and try to be honest about where we were, and where we were trying to get to as a community and in a couple of weeks.

I got a call from the producers and had a good chat with them for about half an hour before we knew it, we made the top 20.

Over 12,000 applicants all across the nation, so that was right around Thanksgiving.

So it didn't do a whole lot with it just yet 'cause.

It was a holiday and I didn't want to disrupt everyone, but we called a community meeting together with a bunch of town leaders and they were like I think this is a big deal, we better really started sinking our teeth into it.

And so we did, and everybody got really engaged with social media we?

Departments involved and showed the producers that you know, Cersei was for real.

This is something that we really needed.

We were a little bit behind the Times with some of the progress that we want to make and this show is just the catalyst to help us get us there and so it's worked.

I mean, we went from the top 20 to the top 10.

The producers came to town and we've just really went all out.

Show them a great time had a big huge community wide events.

To meet with some of our small business owners and really see the heart of the small business owners here in arkansa?

How hard they're working and even though their business may be struggling.

They're still giving back to other people.

And so that's a really big deal for us.

This is a national show you know, so we have the spotlight on the Arkansa and it's a get to the top to win this thing we had to have the love from everybody so.

The state of Arkansa pulled together and we had friends all over the nation voting for us and we're just elated it's unbelievable.

The Magic is really the people there is a core group of people who have always wanted to revitalizer downtown area and they just work together our chamber or economic development group really took an interest about in 2014 and the City Council and our merit that time was very, very instrumental in getting some funding to revitalize downtown I can see the tree plantings and the flowers, they're just beautiful.

And so it just kind of started from there and then people kept asking, what else can.

We do what more can.

We do an it.

A committee has been formed down here for the arts and you've got Main Street, with Amy Burton and she's doing a great job and just it's kind of a perfect combination of everybody just coming together, yeah, we've been through a lot of towns.

In this state and Unfortunately we've seen some court squares that don't look like this at all.

They have a lot of empty storefronts.

But this is really this is really something yes.

It is an people.

Everyone has worked so hard to make sure that we have stores and really kind of changed the atmosphere because years ago.

It was really turning into more of a service oriented square there were a lot of.

Retail operations and now R Square is just filled with all sorts of neat restaurants and boutiques.

Ann just great places to shop.

Yeah, not not to mention Rialto theater over there real to theater revitalized.

The Rialto and the outside of it is beautiful.

Now they have they got some?

We do that the neon lights and that I'll work on it, and that was Main Street and again.

Some other people, local businesses that help fund that and it looks beautiful and so now they're going to start on the inside it, then gets more funding and that decide that the Arts District that we're kind of creating here in town art.

Alley really need if you've never been down through there, they have an invent once a month.

Local artists that come out there and they paint on the walls and uh.

There's local musicians.

Playing there and people serving food.

It's just a really neat experience.

Searcy is got a pulse about it, it starts right down here right downtown any.

Burton has been part of the Main Street.

She's been a Main Street coordinator for a number of years here now and she has done a great job of keeping the downtown area, vibrant and in the public eye and so we've had good public support for that and we've had some landscaping and resurfacing and some things downtown, the last couple of years.

This kept it fresh and she does a great job of helping to to keep our business is flowing and in the buildings rented about 20 years ago we went through a transition where maybe a lot of the downtown business properties were owned by Otis out-of-state out of city men they they were children of parents that were long gone now and so.

Ownership is returned to the search the area and that's really helped also I think it's been one of the things that really significant about keeping the downtime vibrant.

The other thing is that there's just a lot of Self Pride and service, you know a marketing thing that we used back in the 80s and 90s.

Where were million were thousands live like millions wish they could and why we don't use that but.

You still a lot of truth to that, so we support our community.

We love our town.

Circes courthouse built in 1871, has always been a favorite with folks from all over.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The natural notes mural on the side of the music storage showcases lyrics from Arkansa native musicians and the 1927 stops drug store.

Business in Searcy, so Nancy year, the proud owner of the oldest business in town.

Yes, Scott's drug store your grand father started it.

It's correct on the third generation, So what are your thoughts about Cersei and how it's boomed and how where is going?

I'm so excited about this new?

Evolution I think it's it's already been an exciting time for Searcy.

People have rallied together and it's just been a wonderful thing, so it can only get better.

So if you happen to be in the vicinity of Searcy Town, USA or just passing through take some time to check it out for yourself and to view this episode again or any one of our others visit our website at AETN.org slash exploring Arkansas and don't forget to like us on our Facebook fan page.

And we'll see you again, the next time for another exciting adventure.

Exploring Arkansas.