Arkadelphia Life - 70

BLAKELYTOWN VENUE

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Text: Richard Ledbetter | Photography: Contributed

hen you arrive at the entry gate of
Blakelytown, you may wonder if you
haven't driven through a time portal. It is
located just ten minutes from downtown
Arkadelphia in the Central community. The Old West style
architecture features a church house, mercantile store,
bank and blacksmith shop aligned along Main Street, and
carries one back to an earlier, perhaps simpler time.
There is little wonder that the western movie set
atmosphere is the inspiration and creation for the new
wedding venue. Billy and Kathie Bunn raised cattle and
horses on the 85-acre farm before choosing to convert it
to a destination place with plans to develop custom built
homes and a nine-hole golf course.
Billy is an avid reader, historian and collector. Those
passions all came into play when the Bunns envisioned
how they wanted Blakelytown to look. The tiny burg also
includes a water tower, stable, bar, hotel, tea room and
cupola topped barndominium. (That's a former-cattle barn
with built in two-bedroom apartment.)
The Bunns' flare for rare collectables adds some of the

70 ARKADELPHIA LIFE 2021

finer touches incorporated in the edifices such as 100+
year-old doors and stained-glass windows from an A.M.E.
church in Mississippi, gas-fired street lamps from Memphis
and two sets of columns salvaged from old mansions in
Tennessee and Mississippi. Remarkably, the opposite side
of Blakelytown's Main Street is lined by the original Clark
County Court House wrought iron fence first erected in
1899 on the square in Arkadelphia.
One more important nod to local history is the name
chosen by the Bunns for their new destination. Tradition
holds how in 1809 a gentleman named Adam Blakely
first settled on the spot that eventually came to be called
Arkadelphia, originally known as Blakelytown.
To insure they did it right, the Bunns called on Daniels
Architects of California to design the store-front facades.
John and Ron Daniels are the featured players in A&E
television's " Redwood Kings. " Their resume includes
projects for 6 Flags, Disneyland and Silver Dollar City. With
the Daniels' design expertise and Billy's years of experience
as a builder and service on the Arkansas Contractor's
Licensing Board, along with local architecture firm, Twin
Arkadelphia Life

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