Romance, AR Reunion Carl Rogers

Beautiful Romance: Small town planning big reunion

Carl Rogers with granddaughter, Tori Fortner, and wife, Georgia, climb the modern stairway at Romance Waterfall Monday as they help prepare for the 24th annual Romance Reunion. For the first time the reunion will take place in Romance and will feature historic remembrances, homemade desserts and tours of the town's cherished natural wonders. (Philip Holsinger/The Daily Citizen)

For 23 years residents of the tiny town of Romance, Ark. have been getting together to celebrate their shared heritage, meeting in restaurants in various other cities for lack of a large enough meeting place of their own, sharing old photographs, memories, tales and keeping alive their love for the place a Kentucky school teacher named for its, well, romance-inspiring atmosphere.

This year, for the first time in its history, the "Romance Reunion" will take place in Romance Saturday, and event organizers are preparing to take advantage of the opportunity to show visitors and present residents around the town's unique geographic features.

The reunion begins at 1 p.m. at the newly completed fellowship hall at the Romance Church of Christ on Highway 31.

Collections of old newspaper articles, old photographs and other items of geneological and historic value will be on display and available for perusing, reunion co-organizer Georgia Rogers said.

"A lot of people like to know where they come from, what the history of their family is," she said. "Genealogy is a growing interest for people who have roots in Romance."

Rogers has compiled a large ring binder of news articles and other historical documents dating back more than 100 years. Within the book is the history of America shown through the microcosm of one, little American town.

"One woman will bring a cart full of books which make various mention of Romance," Rogers said.

The reunion was begun by a group of Romance residents 24 years ago who wanted to keep the memory of their little village alive.

Because Romance didn't have a large meeting hall, the group organized for Romancers to meet at various restaurants.

"We met in North Little Rock, Heber Springs, Conway, all at different restaurants," co-coordinator Carl Rogers said. "Then last year we finally met at the Carmichael Center in Searcy, and that was wonderful. We had so much room and for the first time people just fellowshipped, hung around and looked at pictures. We know this year it will be like that. And better, because we will be in our own town and will be able to show people around."

After the second world war, when automobiles became plentiful and people began moving to cities, the landscape of Romance changed, Carl Rogers said.

First WWII took him away, then work. Rogers became an engineer, a vocation which took him to various cities, including Pittsburgh, Penn. where he retired at the age of 62 and moved back to his birthplace. He is 83 now.

Romance was settled in the 1850's by a Kentucky school teacher. Kentucky Valley Road in Romance gets its name from this settler.

When the town got a post office it was not allowed to use Kentucky as a name so the settler chose the name Romance, because he thought the title aptly described the lush and majestic surroundings, Carl Rogers said.

Surrounding Romance, a traveler may not know, are some of the most striking mountain vistas in all of Arkansas.

Along the north perch of Highway 31 just east of Romance is a sheer bluff, rising hundreds of feet from the valley floor, that runs for more than a mile. The Highway runs almost at the edge of the bluff, separated only by a thin row of trees at times. Walking out the bluff the view is all forest, a carpet of green spread along a deep valley and stretching for miles.

Both places are where Carl Rogers remembers retreating to when he wanted to play.

"If my father was not around and I didn't have chores to do, I would either be at the falls or the bluffs. One of those two places," he said. "I would play at the waterfalls until I was shriveled up."

Today the Romance waterfall is under private ownership and can be visited only by permission.

Owner James Weatherly is in the process of making the cherished spot even better. He has constructed a set of terraced lawns, expertly landscaped and holding matching permanent shelters, and a long stairway to the falls. Concrete steps and wooden platforms with rails, today lead a visitor in comfort into the deep valley to the green pool and shelved waterfall.