Dyess Colony opened for VIP Inspection Tour event

Pictured are Joanne Cash Yates, Tara Cash Schwoebel, Dr. Ruth Hawkins and Tommy Cash.

"It has been said you can't go home, but my brother Tommy and I had the opportunity to go home today," Yates said.

Yates and Tommy Cash, were among the guests at the VIP Inspection Tour of the Historic Dyess Colony on Friday, April 25. Also present for the event were Tara Cash Schwoebel, Johnny Cash's youngest daughter, and several Cash family members. The event was sponsored by Arkansas State University.

The boyhood home of Johnny Cash is being restored and furnished as it was when the Cash family lived at Dyess Colony. It was opened for a preview to the media, sponsors and donors as part of a VIP Inspection tour.

The Dyess Colony was a community established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s as a Depression-era agricultural resettlement colony. It was part of the New Deal program. Farmers were advanced 20 or 40 acres of farmland, a mule, a small home and money to buy food and plant crops. There was an agreement if the farmers were successful, they would pay back the government.

Ray and Carrie Cash moved their family to House #266 at Dyess Colony in 1935 where the family lived until 1954. One of their seven children, Johnny Cash, spent his growing up years at Dyess until he left to serve in the military.

The restoration of the Dyess Administration Building was the beginning of the project.

"I remember Momma saying one time when they lived in Hendersonville, she didn't think she ever wanted to go back to Dyess because the house don't look like it used to. I think maybe she is looking down from heaven and saying, 'Yeah, it does, too.'"

Tommy Cash said he was a member of the Dyess State Championship Basketball team and proud of it. Like his sister, Tommy said seeing his boyhood home restored was an emotional experience and brought back memories.

Future plans are to rebuilt the Dyess theater for a visitor/orientation center.

Visit link:
Dyess Colony opened for VIP Inspection Tour event