Back to Smith’s
folly
Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2007
Nearly two Novembers had come and gone since I’d seen the results of Smith Treuer’s folly beckoning from the sheer cliffs that overlook Table Rock Lake at the historic Beaver community. The sight of spires rising from the freshly erected 15, 000-square-foot Great Hall of the visionary Smith’s fanciful Rogue’s Manor Castle made the scene even grander from a distance than I’d imagined. It floated there nearer the clouds like some out-of-place image out of history that might actually be real. Smith’s ever-evolving project, now in its 10 th year, is so dramatic that 2, 000 people took advantage of the chance to tour the castle during a one-day open house last May. The public response has been such that Brenda Borum, who manages the Beavertown Inn and general store, now sells tickets to visitors who want to spend a hour with Smith touring his handiwork. You can see for yourself at castleroguesmanor.com. The Great Hall, which was a thick concrete slab with heating pipes laid in the floor when I last saw it, now provides an imposing visual, especially standing beside the initial smaller castle. Built in the same style as the Grand Hall, the two bedroom version is called the Gatekeeper’s House by Smith. Smith, along with his partner and confidante, Debbie Sederstrom, has incorporated huge stones, various natural woods from the region and the work of numerous artisans from nearby Eureka Springs to create his Great Hall. At one end stands what I consider to be the hallmark of his dream coming true, a behemoth work of art that I like to think of as Smith’s roast-an entire-dragon-sized medieval fireplace. My lower jaw darned near disjointed when I saw the 9-foot-wide, 4-foot-deep, 5-foot-high stone fireplace capped with rock weighing over three tons. The framing mantle is adorned with the heads of five bronze dragons sculpted by Eureka artist Mel Shipley. Interspersed amidst the dragon heads, which funnel heat through their nostrils, is Smith’s collection of gemstones from around the world.
Smith uses a forklift to stoke the fireplace with the 6-foot-long tree trunks that feed this real-life fire breather.
The Grand Hall’s two upper floors overlook the panorama of the White River and Lake Taneycomo. Currently, Smith is fashioning what will become his library. There will be an owner’s flat on the top where he and Deb can while away the days when they are not in their current living quarters adjoining the castle complex.
The eventual plan for this surrealistic project, which Smith says inspires him like an impetuous boy creating dreams in a sandbox, is to hold charity events and concerts in the Great Hall, which is wired for anything related to music and entertainment.
The eventual plan is to hold charity events and concerts in the vast Great Hall, which is wired for anything related to entertainment. The sights are so intriguing that Smith said he recently found a bearded stranger wandering the grounds.
“I shouted, ‘Halt, who goeth there!’” he said, chuckling. The intruder turned out to be Dan Haggerty of Los Angeles. He also is a Hollywood actor and the star of the 1974 film “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” which spawned a two year hit TV series of the same name. He said he’d happened across Smith’s folly while visiting the Ozarks. “We became friends during his stay here and we’ve stayed in touch,” said Smith, who now has autographed photographs of Haggerty framed in the Great Hall. “One night we went down to our restaurant and shared refreshments until very late, just talking. He’s in his mid-60 s and still looks good.” Among the facts gleaned from their budding friendship, Smith said he learned that before being discovered, Haggerty, like Smith, had been a leathersmith. Haggerty also was instrumental in building the motorcycles used in the classic film, “Easy Rider.” While touring the many intricacies and wonders of Smith’s castle is an event unto itself, a trip to Eureka Springs isn’t complete for me without a visit to his Rogue’s Manor restaurant and inn. Seated in what I consider the most intimate and fanciful lounge in the state with a glass wall exposing a lighted bluff and local artist Larry Mansker’s medieval mural of local faces covering the back wall, I feel like I’ve been transported to Europe in the 17 th century. On this occasion, we ate raw oysters, imported fresh each week from the West Coast, and caught up with the life and times of a unique man who had the courage and wherewithal to shape his life’s fantasy into a reality. His accomplishment in the sandbox of life and dreams should be an example to us all.
—–––––•–––––—Staff columnist Mike Masterson is the former editor of three Arkansas daily newspapers.