The centerpiece of the Coulter Farmstead is the antebellum Greek Revival home, originally built by James Madison Coulter, which has been revitalized to accommodate twenty-first-century living. The house is complete with geothermal heating and cooling, one full bath off the master bedroom and a second full bath accessible from the open back porch. A central hallway, parlor and second bedroom all speak to the period of the house with wooden ceilings and horizontal six-inch wide wooden plank walls. The color palate is of the period and creates a soft atmosphere for the rooms which have not been left to their natural wood
tones. Four wood-burning fireplaces complete the illusion of one having stepped back
in time.
Ample primary source information documents the construction date of the house and
its original contributions to its community. James Madison Coulter began construction of the house in 1861, but with the inevitable advance of the Civil War, fled to the second farm in Texas. Accompanied by family and a lot of help, the move was not an easy one and represented a change of mindset on the part of Coulter. When two sons entered the War and were killed, the family returned to the farmstead in Arkansas. Mourning the death of his sons, Mr. Coulter directed a caravan of workers to retrieve the bodies for their enterrement at the family cemetery at the Arkansas farm.
After the ending of the War, Coulter served in the Reconstruction from his Arkansas farm. He was elected as County Judge for Sevier County, Arkansas until 1866.
Photo courtesy of Peri-Gay Walker