Old State Hospital Dairy in NLR

[Levy Rat]

I was wondering if anyone has any information about the AR State Hospital Diary in NLR. It was huge - covered over 70 acres. I know where the general location was - the water tower is still standing and there are a couple of small buildings around it. All very grown over and rusty. The tower looks like its being help up by sheer stubborness. Apparently, the main buildings were dozed to make way for a golf course and subdivision. From what I was told today the water towers days are numbered too. There's got to be other stuff left out there somewhere.

[jetskiergrant]

Can you give me a gen. area for it? I have never heard of this.

[Levy Rat]

Sure. I drove down there today. It was in a tiny community called Baucum....down towards Scott. Head that way and turn off on Hwy 131. You can see the water tower from the road. I've got a couple of friends who are interested in going back and looking around. I think you might be able to hang out there awhile and not get noticed much (if at all). You can pull off the road pretty close to it. It would be really creepy after dark - lots of swamp on one side and cornfields on the other.

I found out about it on the "Encyclopedia of Arkansas" site (yeah, hokey name but it is kinda interesting). There are just a few sentences about it.

[Riggz13]

Alright, I wrote a huge entry because I thought I knew what you were talking about. Here's a link to what I'm thinking of. If it is I got some information on it, because the place I'm thinking of out there was connected with tunnels and everything. I even have ghost stories to go with it! My parents always took me out there when I was a kid to scare the piss out of me because it is really creepy out there. Not so much now that the golf course has been put in.

Could you link to the article you found about the place? The article I found talked like the hospital was still standing. The water tower you mentioned is what stood out in my mind. It's right next to Faulkner Lake I think, but I can't see them tearing it down because it's from the Civil War. Or at least it's mentioned in the Civil War marker a few miles from the water tower I'm thinking of.

[Levy Rat]

That's the place! Unfortunately all the buildings you remember are gone. I stopped at the Plantation Museum and the Forrestry Dept. office and got pretty much the same story. The guy at the Forrestry Dept. told me there was even an old cemetary - he said the golf course was built over it (I wonder). There's still a good bit of undeveloped land down there - I can't believe there isn't something left. I noticed three old silo's in the area. I know it's farmland, but I'm talking really old and deserted silos - they've been there a very long time. I wonder if they weren't part of the Dairy also. Also, it's HWY 391 not 131 (sorry).

Sorry this is so long, but I'm kinda stoaked (I WANNA KNOW WHAT'S DOWN THERE!)

Here's the link:

http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/

[jetskiergrant]

I will ask my wife about this. We live in Scott and that is where she grew up. I had always wondered why the street was named "State Dairey Farm Rd" on one of the street signs, they may have changed it by now.