10/20/2026
Have you ever heard of Couchwood on Lake Catherine? This one popped up on my feed and I just had to share, because this place holds a special spot in our family’s story.
But here’s my favorite part of the story. 👇
When we moved to Hot Springs in 2002, Dad came for a visit and started telling us about one of his best childhood memories. Dad grew up in Lake City, AR, and lost both of his parents before he was 10. He and his two siblings were raised by their grandparents. Money was tight, and family vacations just weren’t a thing. So when the school offered a summer trip, Dad was thrilled.
He remembered riding a long way with a bunch of boys piled in the back of what he described as “some kind of dump truck.” (Seatbelts? Never heard of ’em.) They ended up at a big retreat on a lake with open concrete buildings, basketball courts, boat docks, and canoes. He told us all about the canoe races and the typical boy shenanigans, though I suspect we only got the edited version. 😄
The one thing he couldn’t remember was where it was.
So the search was on. Then one day Jeff was out showing property, came around a bend, and called Dad: “I think I found your place.” A few months later Dad came back to visit, we drove him out there, and sure ‘nuff, this was it.
Watching him stand there and recognize it after all those years is a memory I’ll treasure. Turns out Dad and two presidents have something in common, though I’m pretty sure FDR didn’t arrive in a dump truck. ❤️
-- Paulia Kennedy
Have you ever heard of Couchwood on Lake Catherine?
Couchwood was the summer retreat of Harvey Crowley Couch (1877–1941), the Arkansas businessman who founded Arkansas Power & Light, the predecessor of today’s Entergy. He also helped develop the hydroelectric dams that created Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine.
🏡 The estate’s main lodge was completed in August 1927 and built in a rustic style using red cedar logs shipped all the way from Oregon. Couchwood eventually grew to include eight buildings across approximately 170 acres.
The cabin in this photo is one of many structures on the property!
President Herbert Hoover, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and humorist Will Rogers all visited Couchwood. Roosevelt stopped there during Arkansas’s 1936 centennial celebration.
