‘IF WALLS COULD TALK’ COMING TO ARKANSAS: PINE BLUFF COULD BE A PART OF THE SHOW

By Ezra Mann/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

Home and Garden Television will soon be coming to the Little Rock area and could make an appearance anywhere within a 3-hour driving radius for the show “If Walls Could Talk.” The show, which is produced by High Noon Entertainment, is currently looking for homes with history to be preserved for future generations.

Jason Mercado, a research/casting producer for High Noon, said that the show had made visits to the Little Rock area a few years ago and “If Walls Could Talk” representatives enjoyed what the production company filmed last time and felt there were more stories to tell.

Mercado added that the production company is accepting submissions from towns around Little Rock like Pine Bluff, adding filming would begin sometime in mid- to late January.

“We have discovered that smaller cities will have more history readily available because they tend to be more in touch with their past,” Mercado said.

The producer said that the criteria for being selected for the show includes three to five strong stories about families who have moved into a home and made exciting discoveries during renovation and or preservation. He added that the homes that usually make it on the show focus on people who are very dedicated to the history of their home and learning as much as possible about it.

“We’re not your typical home show,” Mercado noted. “We want to look at unique history and share it with viewers across the country.”

Mark Christ, a spokesman for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, said there are currently 68 properties in Jefferson County that are on the National Register of Historic Places and that 56 structures can be found in Pine Bluff. Residents can find information on the properties listed at the preservation program’s Web site.

An example of a home that could be eligible for the HGTV program is the Floyd B. Brown House at 1401 S. Georgia St. The home is listed on the Arkansas preservation Web site as well as being a nationally recognized historic spot and is significant because it served as the retirement home of Brown, who founded the Fargo Agricultural School. The preservation Web site also states that the house is the only building remaining that is directly associated with Brown. The school he founded was established in a time when segregation was the most rigid and educational opportunities were limited for African Americans.

The current owner, Lorrayne M. Cornelius, was not available for comment.

The Gibson-Burnham house is another example of historical preservation in Pine Bluff. The house is owned by Rena Jo Burnham, the widow of William E. Burnham, whose grandfather, John Wilson Gibson, built the house in 1904. Burnham confirmed that her late husband’s house was important because of it being a part of early expansion in Pine Bluff and that the house was built around a prize-winning quarter-sawn staircase purchased at the St. Louis World Fair in 1904.

Burnham said that the staircase was still there, though it had been mostly walled in to keep the rest of the house warm. “William said that he just about froze because of that staircase growing up,” Burnham said as she laughed.