About this property
The Dortch Plantation, also known as the William P. Dortch House or the Marlsgate Plantation, is an historic house near Scott, Arkansas. Dortch House is the only plantation home in Arkansas that is fully furnished in the antebellum period style and available for tours and private events. The house and parts of the plantation were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The NRHP listing was increased in 1979 to cover additional building(s) dating from 1888. The original plantation property, totaling 1,600 acres, was a wedding gift to Mr. and Mrs. Dortch by Mrs. Dortch's parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Steele. The first house on the Dortch Plantation was built by the Dortches in 1888. The Dortch Planation eventually expanded to over 7,000 acres with cotton, rice, corn and soy beans under cultivation. Upon the death of her husband Mrs. Dortch divided the property equally among her five sons. The Dortch family was originally from North Carolina. Their westward movement began in 1838 when Willis Reeves Dortch first moved to Williamson County, Tennessee, where married Elizabeth Womack Stone and began his slave-based farm. The couple had three children. After the death of Willis Reeves Dortch in 1858, his wife and children moved to Lonoke County, Arkansas. William P. Dortch was 12 years old at this time. Eventually, William would enlist in the Confederate army, serving in Anderson's Battalion in Little Rock, Arkansas. Post-Civil War, he attended Miami University in Ohio and married Alice Orr, before returning to Arkansas. His only son, Frederick W. Dortch, was born before his wife's death in 1874. On January 15, 1885, widower William married Nettie Steele, daughter of Pulaski County's largest landowner, Thomas William Steele. As a wedding gift to his daughter, Mr. Steele gifted an 1,800-acre plantation adjoining the existing Dortch property. The newlyweds moved into their new home and had five sons by 1895. By 1922, the Dortch family and their farming prowess was known well enough to be featured in an article in the Arkansas Democrat issue published on September 10, 1922. The home stayed within the Dortch family for over 100 years. Built in 1904, the Dortch House was designed by Arkansas architect Charles L. Thompson. It was described as one of the finest private residences in Arkansas. The Dortch House has a Neoclassical, Greek Revival design. It features 30 rooms in a total of eleven thousand square feet of living space. On the front portico facing Bearskin Lake, doric columns rise over forty feet in height. The interior features a dramatic double staircase, original beveled glass windows, sliding oak pocket doors, handcrafted woodwork and Carrara marble fireplaces.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Dortch Plantation
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Questions about this property
When was Dortch Plantation listed on the National Register?
Dortch Plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 1975.
What type of historic resource is Dortch Plantation?
Dortch Plantation is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Dortch Plantation?
The period of significance for Dortch Plantation is recorded as the early_republic era.
Can I research the history near Dortch Plantation?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Dortch Plantation will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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