Northwest Arkansas Times; November 16, 1986.

Happy Hollow Farm, located on Happy Hollow Road in Fayetteville, was recently inducted into the National Register of Historic Places, an honor bestowed on places determined to be significant in historical terms. Happy Hollow Farm has no trouble meeting the criteria of historical significance. This farm was rebuilt in the early 1900's by William Lighton, a nationally read author and product of the Progressive Era who bought the 120-acre farm outside Fayetteville in order to implement the "gospel of efficiency" on a subsistence farm level.

Lighton Becomes a Spokesman for New Farm New Technology

From 1908-1911, Lighton concentrated on the rebuilding of the homestead he named "Happy Hollow Farm" to the point that he stopped publishing that time. Lighton's intent was to create a self-sufficient farm operation by applying modern farm methods. It was this experience with the virtues of rural life that resulted in some of his most significant writing.

Returning to his writing after Happy Hollow Farm was established, Lighton began to produce work in western fiction, including a novel, Billy Fortune, described by Book Review Digest as "...a quaintly humorous knight of quirt than has come out of the west for a long time." The novel was later reprinted as a series by Sunset Magazine of San Francisco during 1913 and 1914.

During this time, Lighton was also writing about the values of rural life and the application of modern farm methods promoted by the Department of Agriculture and universities' experimental farms. In 1910, the Saturday Evening Post published his first piece dealing with his own experience in buying and rebuilding Happy Hollow Farm. The article was titled "The Story of an Arkansas Farm," and was a descriptive piece about Lighton's experience in developing a self-sufficient life on the farm in which he encouraged readers to examine current agriculture ideas and farm techniques. He believed that if these new techniques were coupled with common-sense planning, the result would be an efficient farm business. Lighten's article also contained glowing remarks about rural life in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, which prompted a reprint of it in Oak Leaves, the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad publication. The enthusiastic article provided the railroad, which wanted to encourage settlement of the Ozark region, an ideal testimony.

The article served its purpose. In 1914, the interest it generated led to the publication of Letters of an Old Farmer to His Son and Happy Hollow Farm. In his book, Letters of an Old Farmer to His Son, Lighton advocated the virtues of farm life, romanticizing its qualities and advantages. In Happy Hollow Farm, Lighton expanded on his 1910 article, "The Story of an Arkansas Farm," restating that the fulfillment of life is derived from developing self-sufficiency and describing his experiences in rebuilding a farm exhausted by centuries of old farm technology. Lighton had revived the homestead into an efficient farm operation capable of supporting his family by using new scientific theories and practices on agriculture. Proudly proclaiming himself a "book farmer," he encouraged the farm community to adopt these progressive methods. A review of Happy Hollow Farm published by the New York Times said the book would "...no doubt prove interesting to those desirous of going back to the land."

Lighton's publications and promotion of modern agriculture resulted in a commission from the Saturday Evening Post to tour the world and study its different agricultural conditions and methods. Unfortunately, World War I prevented the completion of the study.

Lighton's writings are seen as reflecting a segment of the popular culture of his time. His enthusiasm for scientific efficiency, particularly in agriculture, and his promotion of the virtues of rural life represent a portion of progressive idealism that was put forth in the early decades of the twentieth century.

Happy Hollow Farm Today

Originally comprised of 120 acres, the property today consists of 32.5 acres of pasture and woodlands. The homestead includes the main house, milk house. stone cottage and two modern structures.

Richard and Dorothy Seddon now own the house, which has an H-shaped floor plan and is built of sawn logs. It faces south onto pasture land lined by a wooded area.