The Devil Queen

How my wife and I sold our souls to the Queen Anne Victorian we tried to save.

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Location: Crow Mountain, Arkansas, United States

Synopsis: This is a cautionary tale. A seriously disturbed couple find the charming, old ruin of a Queen Anne Victorian in Russellville, Arkansas, and buy it for $1.00. They tore the roof off, cut it in half, and had it moved to some land they owned sixteen miles away because they didn't know any better. Since then, they have hired and fired contractors, had all of their tools stolen, re-wired, re-plumbed, insulated, and essentially rebuilt the entire house. Their only problem is that after four years it still isn't finished. Now they are tired, broke, and wonder what in the hell it is they've done to themselves. And, it's haunted.
(Last updated on April 3, 2008)

Press: Russellville Courier Article - December 2003, HGTV website article, AP story - October 2006, and Victorian Homes Magazine - February 2008 (link coming soon).
Art: From time to time, I receive requests for my art. If you would like to look at more of my art, go to The Failed Artist. If you would like to buy my art, email me. I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Thanks!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

It Runs Downhill

These pictures are already a week out of date, but here is some of the drainage and landscaping work I've been doing. Prior to all my work, this area of our yard was a muddy mess every time it rained.

In the last couple of weeks, I've added the brick walk to the left, the French drain, and add a gravel walk to connect the path to the gravel driveway & parking area. This Tuesday I finished filling in the gravel. The next step is complete the rock lined flower beds and start filling them in with plants, mulch, and other goodies. We're also considering a pond.

We've had six months worth of rain in the last six weeks, so the new drainage has been given a good workout - it's worked great! Now, all I have to do is finish it.

I'll try to get more photos, diagrams, et cetera up by early next week.



If anyone wants the Saturn for parts, it's yours. Make me an offer. Seriously. If you jump it, you could probably get it to run well enough to get it on a trailer. I wouldn't drive it more than a few miles on the open road. It might make it. Or, it might not.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Ethan@OneProjectCloser said...

I think I own the exact same Saturn... Unfortunately I don't want it for parts.

12:38 PM  
Blogger Sandy said...

I really love the brick. It looks so nice.

1:16 PM  
Blogger John said...

Sandy, thanks.

We went through a lot of trouble to get that brick. It was all salvaged from the original home site, it was the Queen's original "skirt" around the crawlspace. We moved all of them by hand, one truck load at a time. I think there were something like 3,000 - 4,000 of them. That doesn't include the foundation stones. We moved the small ones ourselves and hired a bulldozer for the rest.

1:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My parents have that exact car (theirs is a pos also - but it gets goods mpg. I think they'd take it off your hands. Email me at rbalaster@gocatgo.biz

P.S. Thanks for that rough contract for deed - I managed to rework it and sell my other house. I don't know if I'll ever use a realtor again.

7:18 PM  
Blogger amanda said...

John,
Have you seen this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/garden/17akron.html?em&ex=1208577600&en=e5ff80de989f3650&ei=5087%0A
The hardscaping looks great! We're finally enjoying ours after all these years...

8:52 PM  
Blogger John said...

Ray,

Glad to hear it worked out for you. I just sent you an email about the car. Let me know if they're interested.

Amanda,

Thanks for the article. I hadn't seen that. And, thank you! I'm pretty happy with the hardscaping too.

11:06 AM  

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