Harry Scott loved wood. In fact, for many years, he made his living in the lumber business, selling wood to the railroad. Harry also loved fishing, so much so that when a piece of property on the Little Red River in Arkansas, at the exact spot where a world record brown trout had been caught a few years earlier came up for sale, he purchased the property with a plan to build his dream home there.
Harry’s fishing camp.
Given his love of wood, it had to be a log home and also a home that reflected Harry’s love of the outdoors. Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, he spent many happy hours hunting and fishing in the hills around his home. To put his plan into action, he started attending log and timber home shows around the country looking for the perfect company to turn his vision into reality.
The back of the houses faces the river.
Paul Stinson from Pioneer Log Homes of BC remembers the first time he met Harry. At a log home show in Branson, Missouri, Paul had just finished setting up Pioneer’s show display, with their signature massive flared western red cedar logs, when Harry walked up and boomed, “Where have you been all of my life!” That meeting started a two-year relationship working together with several architects to design the home. Harry’s love of wood led them to hire Tom Julian of Julian and Sons, which specializes in high-end millwork, cabinetry, and gunrooms for numerous celebrities and The International Safari Club. Julian and Sons did all of the cabinets, flooring and millwork for the home.
Harry’s gun room.
Harry told Tom that he didn’t want any straight grained wood in the home; he wanted burls, knots, splits, checks, and wood that showed the most character. Paul remembers that the first two entry doors were rejected because they looked too slick, so he went to Julian and Sons and asked to see their scrap pile. He picked out several of pieces of wood that showed wild grain with splits, checks, and knots everywhere and told them to build the front door from those rejected pieces of wood. Of course, Harry loved it!
While the house was being built, Harry lived across the road in a little cabin and visited the jobsite daily, talking and joking with the workmen and often frying up chicken for their lunch. Harry had a meticulous eye for detail and would often point out a board that would ultimately be sealed up inside a wall that was just a fraction of an inch off. In one instance, the lead carpenter intentionally placed an interior board high up on the wall several inches off and then pretended not to notice when Harry pointed it out. Harry became agitated and growled, “get me a ladder’” and proceeded to climb up to find a note from the carpenter on the bottom of the board. No one knew exactly what the note said, but Harry burst into laughter.
He hired numerous artisans to produce stained glass and wood carvings of animals for the house that reflected his love for the outdoors. One unique feature in the master bath is a tub that is carved from a massive boulder. Harry had an artistic eye and took great joy in the process of creating his dream home.
But sadly, it was not to be. Harry passed away from a heart attack before the home was finished. After the funeral, Harry’s two children asked Paul to finish the home exactly as their father had envisioned it.
The house stands today completed just as Harry Scott had imagined.
