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Farm No. 266—Johnny Cash Boyhood Home
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of ArkansasShow map of the United States
Location	4791 W Cty. Rd. 924, near Dyess, Arkansas
Coordinates	35°35′51″N 90°14′42″W / 35.597393°N 90.244989°W / 35.597393; -90.244989 (Johnny Cash Boyhood Home)
Area	less than one acre
Built	1934
NRHP reference No.	100002000
Added to NRHP	May 2, 2018

Farm No. 266—Johnny Cash Boyhood Home was the home of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash from 1935 to 1950. Cash moved with his family to a rural community in Mississippi County, Arkansas. The farm house was built in 1934 in a government project to help boost the economy. The Cash family joined the community in March 1935. Ray and Carrie Cash moved to Arkansas when they took an offer to farm government land for poor and impoverished farmers. The Cash family went through many hardships while living in the farm house by floods and losing one of their children, Jack Cash. Growing up picking cotton and working on the farm influenced some of Johnny Cash's songs in the future, one of them being "Pickin' Time." In 2018, the home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

In March 1935, when American musician Johnny Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas, a New Deal colony of the Franklin Roosevelt administration. Dyess Colony was founded in Mississippi county in 1934 to give poor families a chance to work land that they had a chance to own. The colony was named after William Reynolds Dyess, a Mississippi native, and the first Arkansas WPA administrator. Dyess gave the idea of supplying farms to families in poverty to Harry Hopkins, and then named the first "Colonization Project No 1." 16,000 acres in Mississippi County were given to this project for 500 different families to come farm on. Families started arriving in October 1934. The Cash family settled in March 1935 on 20 acres. The house given to the Cash family is one of few left standing in the Dyess Colony.

J.R., as Cash was known as a child, started working in his father's cotton fields at the age of five, singing along with his family while working. He lived there until he graduated from high school in 1950. All families in Dyess colony depended on cotton. None were sharecroppers so the idea of one day purchasing their farms from the government was real. The government eventually stopped funding the scheme, but the Cash family continued farming at the property. 

Arkansas State University acquired the home in 2011, and the university's Heritage Sites Office operates it as a small museum, "Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home", as of 2022. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

J.R. Cash growing up

Johnny Cash was born to Ray, and Carrie Cash on February 26, 1932. J.R was the fourth born of seven kids to the Cash family. J.R was three years old when the family packed up and moved to their new home, Farm No. 266. The Great Depression was a tragedy at this time, but along with the Great Depression came floods and natural disasters. In 1937 the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers flooded. The flood was so bad on the Cash family, they had to evacuate. Everyone but Ray Cash left to go to Kingsland; until it was safe to return. Along with natural disasters and the Great Depression, the Cash family experienced a horrific personal tragedy when on May 20, 1944, Johnny's older brother, 14-year-old Jack Cash, was mortally wounded when he fell into a table saw at work, he would die in the hospital a week later.

Incorporating the farm house into his music

Johnny Cash used his experiences growing up at the farm house in many of his songs. One important song that was inspired from the farm house is, "Pickin' Time". 

I got cotton in the bottom land It's up and growin' and I got a good stand My good wife and them kids of mine Gonna get new shoes, come pickin' time

Get new shoes come pickin' time

Ev'ry night when I go to bed I thank the Lord that my kids are fed They live on beans eight days and nine But I get 'em fat come pickin' time Get 'em fat come come pickin' time

The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which inspired his song "Five Feet High and Rising".

Gallery

• The bedroom Johnny Cash shared with his three brothers
• Family piano in the living room
• Living room

See also

• House of Cash
• Carter Family Fold

References

1. "Weekly listings". National Park Service. May 4, 2018.
2. "Dyess | Arkansas.com". www.arkansas.com. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
3. Bowden, Bill (May 5, 2018). "National Register accepts Johnny Cash boyhood home in Arkansas". ArkansasOnline. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Archived from the original on May 5, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
4. "Encyclopedia of Arkansas". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
5. ^ Edward Salo; Elizabeth Johnson; Zach Elledge; Brian McIntruf; Callie Williams (February 8, 2018). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Farm No. 266, Johnny Cash Boyhood Home / Ray and Carrie Cash Home / MS0345" (PDF). Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Department of Arkansas Heritage. Fifty pages, with bibliography, and with 17 photos from 2017.
6. "Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home". Arkansas State University. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
7. Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (May 4, 2018). "Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Listed on National Register of Historic Places". Arkansas, Department of Arkansas Heritage. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
8. Kreps, Daniel (May 5, 2018). "Johnny Cash's Childhood Home Added to National Register of Historic Places". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
9. "Historic Dyess Colony". Historic Dyess Colony. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
10. "Part I: Surviving the Depression in Arkansas | Johnny Cash: Arkansas Icon". ualrexhibits.org. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
11. "Johnny Cash | Biography, Songs, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 5, 2020.

Further reading

• Cash, Johnny; Carr, Patrick (1997). Cash: The Autobiography. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0061013579.
• Cash, Johnny; Schwoebel, Tara Cash (2014). Hawkins, Ruth (ed.). Recollections by J. R. Cash: Childhood Memories of Johnny Cash. Jonesboro: Arkansas State University. ISBN 978-0930677039.

External links

• Official website
• Boyhood Home in Dyess, 360 Tour, ArkansasOnline

v t e Johnny Cash
Albums Singles Sun Records Songs Awards
Studio albums	1950s Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! The Fabulous Johnny Cash Hymns by Johnny Cash Songs of Our Soil 1960s Ride This Train Now, There Was a Song! Hymns from the Heart The Sound of Johnny Cash Blood, Sweat and Tears The Christmas Spirit I Walk the Line Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian Orange Blossom Special Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West Everybody Loves a Nut Happiness Is You Carryin' On with Johnny Cash & June Carter From Sea to Shining Sea The Holy Land 1970s Hello, I'm Johnny Cash Man in Black A Thing Called Love America: A 200-Year Salute in Story and Song The Johnny Cash Family Christmas Any Old Wind That Blows Johnny Cash and His Woman Ragged Old Flag The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me The Johnny Cash Children's Album Johnny Cash Sings Precious Memories John R. Cash Look at Them Beans One Piece at a Time The Last Gunfighter Ballad The Rambler I Would Like to See You Again Gone Girl Silver A Believer Sings the Truth Johnny Cash Sings with B.C. Goodpasture Christian School 1980s Rockabilly Blues Classic Christmas The Baron The Adventures of Johnny Cash Johnny 99 Highwayman Rainbow Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming Heroes Believe in Him Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town Classic Cash Water from the Wells of Home 1990s Highwayman 2 Boom Chicka Boom The Mystery of Life Country Christmas American Recordings The Road Goes on Forever American II: Unchained 2000–2020s American III: Solitary Man American IV: The Man Comes Around My Mother's Hymn Book American V: A Hundred Highways American VI: Ain't No Grave Out Among the Stars Songwriter
Live albums	At Folsom Prison At San Quentin The Johnny Cash Show På Österåker Strawberry Cake The Survivors Koncert v Praze (In Prague – Live) VH1 Storytellers: Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson At Madison Square Garden A Concert Behind Prison Walls Live from Austin, TX
Soundtracks	I Walk the Line Little Fauss and Big Halsy The Gospel Road Return to the Promised Land
Compilations	Johnny Cash Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous Greatest! Johnny Cash Sings Hank Williams Now Here's Johnny Cash All Aboard the Blue Train with Johnny Cash Original Sun Sound of Johnny Cash Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 Heart of Cash Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 Sunday Morning Coming Down International Superstar Five Feet High and Rising Destination Victoria Station Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 The Unissued Johnny Cash Johnny & June Tall Man Encore Biggest Hits The Man in Black 1954–1958 The Man in Black 1959–1962 Come Along and Ride This Train The Essential Johnny Cash (1992) Wanted Man The Man in Black 1963–1969 The Man in Black – His Greatest Hits 16 Biggest Hits Love, God, Murder The Essential Johnny Cash (2002) Unearthed The Legend The Legend of Johnny Cash Patriot 16 Biggest Hits: Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash The Legend of Johnny Cash Vol. II The Complete Columbia Album Collection Johnny Cash and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Songs	"25 Minutes to Go" "Seasons of My Heart" "Any Old Wind That Blows" "A Wonderful Time Up There" "The Ballad of Boot Hill" "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" "Big River" "Blistered" "A Boy Named Sue" "Busted" "Cat's in the Cradle" "Cocaine Blues" "Cry! Cry! Cry!" "Daddy Sang Bass" "Dark as a Dungeon" "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" "Engine 143" "Flesh and Blood" "The Folk Singer" "Folsom Prison Blues" "Forty Shades of Green" "Get Rhythm" "Give My Love to Rose" "Goodnight, Irene" "Green, Green Grass of Home" "Greystone Chapel" "Guess Things Happen That Way" "Hey, Porter" "Home of the Blues" "Hurt" "I Couldn't Keep from Crying" "I Love You Because" "I Still Miss Someone" "I Walk the Line" "If I Had a Hammer" "If I Were a Carpenter" "In My Life" "In the Jailhouse Now" "It Ain't Me Babe" "Jackson" "Kate" "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" "The Man Comes Around" "Man in Black" "The Matador" "Oh Lonesome Me" "One Piece at a Time" "Oney" "Orange Blossom Special" "The One on the Right Is on the Left" "Remember the Alamo" "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" "Ring of Fire" "Rock Island Line" "So Doggone Lonesome" "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" "Tennessee Flat Top Box" "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" "A Thing Called Love" "Understand Your Man" "What Is Truth" "What'd I Say" "Without Love" "You Are My Sunshine"
Film	Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus
Television	The Johnny Cash Show
Biographies	Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words Cash: The Autobiography Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music My Father and the Man in Black Walk the Line Ring of Fire (musical) Ring of Fire (2013 film) My Darling Vivian
Tribute albums	The Sound Behind Johnny Cash Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash Johnny's Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash Walk the Line: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Fade to Black: Memories of Johnny All Aboard: A Tribute to Johnny Cash Johnny Cash Remixed We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash Forever Words
Associated acts	The Highwaymen The Tennessee Three Bob Wootton Carl Perkins W. S. Holland Marshall Grant Luther Perkins Million Dollar Quartet The Great Eighties Eight
Family	June Carter Cash John Carter Cash Rosanne Cash Cindy Cash Carlene Carter Tommy Cash Carter Family
Historical sites	Dyess, Arkansas Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Johnny Cash Museum House of Cash Carter Family Fold
Legacy	Statue of Johnny Cash
Category

• National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi County, Arkansas
• Houses completed in 1934
• 1934 establishments in Arkansas
• Houses in Mississippi County, Arkansas
• Historic house museums in Arkansas
• Museums in Mississippi County, Arkansas
• University museums in Arkansas
• Arkansas State University
• Biographical museums in Arkansas
• Johnny Cash
• Country music museums
• New Deal in Arkansas
• Arkansas culture
• Dyess, Arkansas