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Historic Fayetteville Home Deemed Endangered By Preserve Arkansas

The Little Rock based group Preserve Arkansas placed the Thomas-Tharp home in Fayetteville on it's list of Arkansas' Most Endangered Places.

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By
Seth Stephenson
FAYETTEVILLE, AR — The Little Rock based group Preserve Arkansas placed the Thomas-Tharp home in Fayetteville on it's list of Arkansas' Most Endangered Places.

The home located on W. Old Farmington has been in the area since around the Civil War.

Rachel Whitaker, the research specialist at the Shiloh Museum, said the home was at one point used as a triage center for soldiers who fought at the Battle of Prairie Grove.

On their list, Preserve Arkansas said the home is quickly deteriorating because of vandalism and weather.

The home is also located on the very edge of a new mountain bike park approved by the city of Fayetteville in February.

Whitaker said if the home is lost, so too is the information it could contain about the area during the Civil War.

She explained there is a lot of information that could be gained by studying even just the architecture of the house.

Right now, Whitaker said the biggest weapon for the home is public interest.

"A lot of the ways to protect things is you have to have somebody who either has the funds and the interest who wants to come in and preserve and protect it themselves," Whitaker said.

"Or you have to have a community group who wants to come in and preserve and protect."

Preserve Arkansas suggested that the city use the home as a southern gateway to the new mountain bike park to help preserve it.

The city said Friday afternoon that they have not discussed the property in any way at this point in time.

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