Dalton, Arkansas
Meet the Artist
Bret Robinett was born and raised in the Black River Bottoms outside Pocahontas. He began sketching as a child. In the mid-1990s, he began to sketch local, historic structures and landscapes, as well as commissioned work as time permitted. Recently, he has begun to sketch almost every day.
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The Fielding Stubblefield House, circa 1860
Though it is unknown when the home belonging to Fielding Stubblefield was built, this drawing is based on the earliest photograph we have. Because the house had clapboard siding, we believe it would have been built after 1840 or thereabouts. There was a separate kitchen house at the back of the large home, as well as a gutter and cistern system. Though it is not entirely clear in the photograph we have, it is believed that there was a dogtrot in the center of the home on both the first and second floors. The house was built on the top of a rise overlooking the Eleven Point River. Fielding Stubblefield was one of the original settlers to arrive in the Eleven Point River Valley prior to 1815. The Rice, Looney, and Stubblefield families were interrelated by this time and they all settled fairly close to each other. Fielding Stubblefield lived here until his death in 1866. His daughter, Sarah “Sallie”, married Lewis Dalton in 1861. Dalton is credited with establishing the village of Dalton soon thereafter. The house remained in the Dalton family until It burned in the 1940s.
The Looney Tavern - Downey Homeplace
Built in 1833 by William Looney, the “Looney Tavern” is probably not the original home structure as Looney and others were settling along the Eleven Point River by 1815. This structure passed to Looney’s son, William “Bill” Looney, who left it to his widow, Catherine, when he died in 1865. Catherine soon married the recently returned Confederate soldier, Dennis Downey. Downey is credited with digging the structure’s cellar and the cistern—both still exist. The site and farm remained in the Downey family for well over 100 years and it came to be known as the Downey Homeplace. Later purchased by the French family, this structure was donated to Black River Technical College in the early 2000s. BRTC secured grant funding to completely restore the structure. The date of construction, 1833, is based on tree-ring-dating of the structure’s logs.
The John Wells House #2
Probably built in the early 1900s near a good spring, this drawing is of the John Wells House as it appeared around 1998. Long abandoned, the structure remains standing today along the Blackwell Den Road just over the big hill from the Rice-Upshaw House.
Drawing #2
St. Paul Catholic Church, Pocahontas
The first Train Depot in Pocahontas, circa 1911
Bar Scene in early Pocahontas