Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 12/03/97
ELABORATION
Sam Abowitz came to Arkansas City from Brooklyn, New York, about the year 1918 as a merchant and later became a levee contractor building the Mississippi River levee. He purchased about 1200 acres that became the Boggy Bayou Farm and cleared the land with cross-cut saws and a team of mules. Besides the barns and main farmstead that remains today, there were about ten other tenant houses on the farm which fell into disuse and were torn down over the years. The two remaining tenant houses are still occupied by tenants who farmed the land. The Abowitz family sold the farm to Judge J.F. Wallace in 1993. Later that year Judge Wallace died and left the farm to a charitable trust. In 1994, the trustees applied to enroll the farm in the Wetland Reserve Program. In the winter of 1996-1997, all of the farm except the approximately ten acre farmstead was planted with 300,000 hardwood seedlings.
The Boggy Bayou Farm is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C for its depiction of a Depression-era tenant farmstead. It is not being considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places at this time because of the presence of asphalt plate siding on the main tenant house. The trustees of the farm, however, are considering removing the artificial siding and restoring the original cypress weatherboard siding. If this restoration occurs, the property would then be eligible for the National Register.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Information and materials submitted by Gibbs Ferguson, May 9, 1997.
Interview with Maurice Abowitz by Gibbs Ferguson, May 9, 1997.