Waverly is a cotton plantation 13 miles downriver from Memphis at
Bigg’s Landing, Arkansas. The center-hall house is in the Greek Revival
style popular from the 1820s until about 1860. The exact construction
date for this house isn’t known, but trim, doors, and interior details
are typical of the 1870s and 1880s — not surprising, since not
much was built during the Civil War and Reconstruction years, and
styles were slow to change in rural areas.
In 1910, the house was
moved behind the new levee to protect it from flooding. It was put on
tall brick piers with a full story below, perhaps replicating its
original construction, since raised Greek Revival cottages were found
in great numbers throughout the South. Waverly is fully restored and is
situated on 31 acres of landscaped grounds, less than a half-hour drive
from downtown Memphis.
The façade has a full-width porch, opening to a wide hall
that runs all the way through the house. The main level has 11-foot
ceilings and narrow oak strip floors, probably installed over the
original heart pine flooring when the house was moved.
The hall
begins as a foyer, with four French doors that can be folded against
the walls to promote air circulation. The middle area of the hall is
used as a grand living room. It’s focused on a fireplace with a marble
surround and flanked by arch-headed bookcases with paneled doors. A
large cased opening connects the central living room to a
17-foot-square dining room with an immense bay window that looks west
into the landscape, where an evergreen Southern magnolia and a
deciduous Japanese tulip magnolia are prominently sited just outside
the window, along with a hedge of burning bush and another of indica
azalea.
A renovated kitchen is behind the dining room, and the breakfast
room occupies the rear of the center hall, with a long view down an
allée of Natchez crape myrtles. A cross hall connects through a
library to a sun porch on the eastern side of the house, looking toward
a 12-acre fenced pecan orchard.
Two of the original main-floor bedrooms have intricately planked and
paneled ceilings, fireplaces, and alcoves. The other two bedrooms have
been converted to a master suite. Its sleeping area has an original
fireplace with modern gas logs; and the rest of the space is a dressing
room/office and bath with a large shower and separate tub.
The
lower level has been enclosed, doubling the floor space and used for a
handy mudroom, laundry, game room, and guest suite consisting of two
bedrooms, two baths, a sitting room, and a kitchenette.
The property has a parking court out front, another parking area to
the rear, a two-story carriage house, two workshops, a barn, and
stables. The best seat in the house is, and probably always was, on the
high, wide front porch, where long views through the tall pecan trees
stretch over fields of cotton that run as far as the eye can see.
7250 Waverly Road, Procter, AR
Approximately 5,700 square feet
5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths; $595,000
Realtor: Coleman-Etter, Fontaine, 767-4100
Agent: Jeanne Arthur, 634-2800
