Just imagine the excitement in Rogers, Arkansas, 110 years ago as word spread that the famed “Coin” Harvey had bought 320 acres a few miles southeast of town. Back in 1900 William H. Harvey was a celebrity, a champion of the Free Silver cause known far and wide for bestsellers such as Coin’s Financial School. A few years earlier he had visited Northwest Arkansas campaigning for William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic Presidential candidate in 1896. Now Harvey was here to stay.
With him “Coin” brought his dreams of creating a luxurious resort that would tap the tourism potential he saw in the Ozarks. Over the next few years Harvey invested the wealth he earned as a writer into transforming what had been a tiny hamlet called Silver Springs into the resort of Monte Ne. Within a decade his resort boasted three hotels, a golf course, tennis courts, and the first indoor swimming pool in Arkansas.
Today most of historic Monte Ne lies under the waters of the lake created by the building of Beaver Dam in the early 1960s. But the fascination with Harvey and with Monte Ne lives on. You are about to discover the story of one of our country’s most colorful characters.
With him “Coin” brought his dreams of creating a luxurious resort that would tap the tourism potential he saw in the Ozarks. Over the next few years Harvey invested the wealth he earned as a writer into transforming what had been a tiny hamlet called Silver Springs into the resort of Monte Ne. Within a decade his resort boasted three hotels, a golf course, tennis courts, and the first indoor swimming pool in Arkansas.
Today most of historic Monte Ne lies under the waters of the lake created by the building of Beaver Dam in the early 1960s. But the fascination with Harvey and with Monte Ne lives on. You are about to discover the story of one of our country’s most colorful characters.
