The Wiley Crowley House
The home of Wiley Crowley was built circa 1825 by Wiley Crowley and many others from the community. According to Benjamin H. Crowley, a nephew and former son-in-law of Wiley, the house was raised by almost everyone in the county. Behind where the house stood is an old cemetery. From Benjamin H. Crowley's history of Greene County, Arkansas, we learned that Wiley Crowley made the bricks for the chimney on site, by driving teams of oxen over the native red clay. He was the first person in the county to operate a brick kiln. Benjamin also notes that Wiley drove cattle down to New Orleans. Wiley died probably in the house before 1850, when his wife Lucy Capps is shown as remarried to Dr. Thomas J. Mellon. More recently, it was thought that Dr. Mellon had expanded the house from a one story log cabin to what it became, but Benjamin H. Crowley's history does not agree with this theory. Dr. Mellon did cover the house with clapboard siding. Benjamin states that Dr. Mellon is buried in the cemetery behind the house, but no tombstone has been located.
Below is a progression of the decay of the house from the 1920/30s through the present day clearing where it stood. The house fell down in the 1960/70s.
