The text of the marker:
Visitors over the Years
Wolf Family Home
Even after the county seat moved, this house bustled with activity. Arkansas became a state in 1836, and settlers followed the White River hundreds of miles into the interior of north Arkansas. Thousands of these settlers passed by here. Some stopped and traded, while others just stopped to rest. As a result, Jacob Wolf's store and blacksmith shop prospered. A post office also continued here until the Civil War.
As a family home, the Wolf house saw many children born and raised to adulthood here. Children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews were also married here. As a deacon of the Baptist Church, Wolf hosted camp meetings and denominational gatherings on the hillsides surrounding his home. A. C. Jeffrey, writing about the early settlement period of Izard County, states that Wolf had "perhaps the largest household of kindred and friends of any man on White River." Jacob Wolf died in this house January 1, 1863 at the age of 77.
Keelboats
Keelboats were a common site on the White River during the early settlement years. They ranged in size from 40 to 75 feet long and from eight to 12 feet wide. They were used by merchants like Jacob Wolf to trade goods and by settlers coming to claim land in Arkansas.
(picture of western view of house)
This view of the Wolf House focuses on what was originally the front of the structure. It faces the White River where people arrived by canoe, keelboat and, later, steamboats. Jacob Wolf's oldest son was the captain of the first steamboat that arrived here in 1834. Wolf established a ferry across the river, and the original landing site can still be seen on the opposite side.
The circuit court sessions that met here at the courthouse several times a year drew people from all over the country. Sessions lasted for several days, sometimes for more than a week. Families camped all over the grounds. They bought or bartered for goods they needed back home. Men had competitions of skill in shooting, wrestling and tomahawk tosses.
That the the Wolf House is at this location is no accident. It sat across the river from the Shawnee villages in the Cherokee Reservations and at the head of steamboat navigation. Upstream from the Wolf House, the White and North Fork Rivers were navigable in canoes and sometimes keelboats when the river was high. Also converging here were overland routes connecting the headwater country of the Buffalo River to Batesville and points beyond.
Prehistoric Occupations
Archaeology has revealed that this upland terrace site was used over and over again by small groups of people for many thousands of years. The unplowed portion of the ground under the house produced layered concentrations of projectile point flakes and artifacts. Projectile points are frequently referred to as arrowheads. The different styles of projectile points found under the house show that many thousands of years separated the groups of people who lived here.
Projectile points were found from 10 to 30 centimeters below the surface of the ground. The scale at the right shows the depth that each projectile point was found.
(Scale of finds)
This and additional signs interpreting the structure and its history have been funded in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Department of Arkansas Heritage.
From the National Register application:
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visit link)
"The Wolf House is a two-storey "Saddle bag" log structure built by Major Jacob Wolf after his arrival in north Arkansas.
The foundation is stone, supporting a hand hewn log sill system. The squared outer log walls are connected at the corners by the chamfer and notch method common to early 19th century construction. The average log sectional dimensions are 11" x 7". The original chinking material has been replaced with a cementitious mortar.
The first floor has two rooms of equal size flanking the open dog-trot breezeway. The upper floor also has two rooms. One room is larger as it extends over the one-storey dog-trot. The second floor is reached by a run of open stairs from the first-storey porch to the second-storey porch. Access to all rooms is gained from the full length porches front and rear. The overall dimensions of the building, including porches, are 30 x 45 feet.
The roof is bellcast gabled with the porch roofs pitched at a slightly lower pitch than the main one. The roof is covered with hand riven cedar shingles. The porches are supported by a series of eight peeled, rough posts, not squared.
There are two chimneys outside on the gable ends. They are constructed of stone up to a line approximating the eave line and brick from there up.
The windows are double hung with a pattern of 6 x 6 lights. They are shuttered with solid, vertically boarded blinds."