Welcome and Opening Commentary - Cemeteries of Baxter County, Arkansas

WELCOME AND OPENING COMMENTARY - CEMETERIES OF BAXTER COUNTY

By

Jeff Lewis

I want to welcome you to my website blog where you will find photographs and information about the many cemeteries that are found in Baxter County, Arkansas. There more than 80 cemeteries located within the geographical boundaries of Baxter County, Arkansas. Many are active, well maintained cemeteries that receive regular care and maintenance. However, many others have not been used in several decades and, while they may occasionally be cleaned up by surviving family or perhaps attended to on the occasional organized cemetery work day, they are not regularly mowed or looked after. Many others are very old, abandoned cemeteries that sadly were completely neglected and uncared for, at least until they were cleaned up by the Baxter County Jail Inmates work program starting in November, 2010 under my personal direction. A few have practically been swallowed up and reclaimed by nature, their whereabouts known only to a very few people, while still others have already vanished completely because their exact locations are no longer known to anyone still living.

When I first began researching cemeteries in Baxter County, I was frustrated to find that, although there was a fair amount of information available from various sources, there was not one, single comprehensive source covering all cemeteries known to exist or have existed in Baxter County. All sources were lacking facts or information available in other sources, or in some cases the information found in one source conflicted with information found in a different source. It was only after visiting most of these cemeteries myself over the course of several years, making my own notes and observations and then comparing them with other reference materials, that I felt confident in compiling a comprehensive list myself. My interest in these cemeteries is primarily historical in nature and not genealogical. Therefore, I have not focused on the names, dates, and family histories of those buried there; rather my focus is on locating the cemetery, accurately describing it, articulating directions to find the cemetery, and noting any overall history that I have read about or become aware of.

Sources for this compilation, in addition to my own personal notes and observations made while visiting these various cemeteries, include: 1) “The History of Baxter County” by Baxter County Historian Mary Ann Messick; 2) “Of Grave Importance - The Cemeteries of Baxter County, Arkansas" by the Baxter County Historical Society; 3) The Arkansas Gravestones Project Website; 4) Ancrestry.com (Baxter County Cemeteries Page); and 5) Personal knowledge and observations of other persons I have spoken to. My comprehensive cemetery list, which can be found on a separate page/entry, is added to, modified, and updated as new information becomes available or older information is corrected and updated. All photographs were taken by me unless otherwise specifically noted.

I welcome comments, feedback, and new, updated, or corrected information on our local cemeteries from anyone.

Complete Cemetery Listing alphabetically and by category

 

I have personally verified the existence and location of the following cemeteries in Baxter County. Each of these has a separate page with photographs and information about them:

Amos (Trimble Flats) Cemetery

Anderson Cemetery

Arkana Cemetery

Athens Cemetery

Baxter Memorial Gardens

Bean Cemetery

Bentley Ridge Cemetery

Beuhler Springs Cemetery

Big Flat Cemetery

Burnt School House Cemetery

Buzzard-Roost Cemetery

Casteel Cemetery

Conley Cemetery

Cooper Cemetery

Coots Cemetery

County Line Cemetery

Curtis-Acklin Cemetery

Custer-Herron Cemetery

Dilbeck Cemetery

Douglass Cemetery

Dover Family Cemetery

East Oakland Cemetery

Ellison Family Cemetery

Fairview Cemetery

Fort Cemetery (single, unconfirmed gravesite)

Fluty Cemetery

Gaither Cemetery

Galatia Cemetery

Gassville Cemetery

Goodall Cemetery

Hand Cemetery

Harris Cemetery

Hart Cemetery

Heiskill Cemetery

Henderson Family Cemetery

Hensley Smith Cemetery

Hooser Cemetery

Horn Cemetery

Hurst Cemetery

Hutcheson Cemetery

John Nimmo Cemetery

Jordan Area Cemetery

Kirby’s Tucker Memorial Cemetery

Lawson Cemetery

Lawson Orchard Cemetery

Lee Cemetery

Lone Rock Cemetery

Lower Oakland Cemetery

Lucy Martin Cemetery

Martin Cemetery

Martin Springs Cemetery

Maynard Cemetery

Meeks Family Cemetery

Messick Cemetery

Messick-Young Cemetery

Moody Cemetery

Mountain Home Cemetery

Nelson Cemetery

Norfork Cemetery

Norman-Rorie Cemetery

Oak Grove Cemetery

Oakland Cemetery

Old Sales Cemetery

Payne-Campbell Cemetery

Pilgrims Rest Cemetery

Porter Family Cemetery

Quality Ridge Cemetery

Reed’s Grove Cemetery

Rice Cemetery

Sale Family Cemetery

Seawright Cemetery

Table Rock Cemetery

Talburt (Casey) Cemetery

Thacker Cemetery

Three Brothers Cemetery

Wake Cemetery

Walker Cemetery

Walnut Hill Cemetery

Ward Family Cemetery

Wesley Chapel Cemetery

Whiteville Cemetery

Williams Cemetery

Wolf Cemetery

Wolf Family Cemetery

The following cemeteries are known to currently exist in Baxter County, as established in other source materials. Although I am aware of their approximate locations, I have yet to locate and/or visit them:

Cataract Creek Cemetery

Cockrum Cemetery

The following cemeteries are known to have existed at some point in the past and are documented in books and on maps. Their approximate locations are known and have been visited, but these cemeteries can no longer be found by visual observation in their presumed locations. They may have been cleared for agricultural purposes, but that is mostly speculation on my part, although some evidence of this does exist, particularly with respect to the Old Trevina Cemetery:

Cuff Cemetery

Culvahouse Cemetery

Old Trevina Cemetery

The following cemeteries have been identified and referred to by name in various books and by non-specific place marks on maps in the past, but their current locations are unknown and they cannot currently be found. They may or may not still be in existence: 　

W. W. Adams Cemetery: It has been reported that somewhere on Baxter CR 262 off Hwy 201 South that there is a large flat limestone rock with the engraved names of “W. W. Adams and Wife of W. W. Adams” that covers their gravesites. It is said to be adjacent to an old smoke house, which may no longer be standing. I have looked for it, but have not found it.

Adams Church Cemetery: Said to have been inventoried by the Extension Homemaker’s Clubs in 1968, but no location or any other additional information was recorded (source the Baxter Bulletin article circa 2002). Information from the Baxter County Cemetery Book on the Old Trevina Cemetery indicates that there was once a church at that location called the “Adams Church”. It is possible, but unconfirmed, that the Adams Church Cemetery and the Old Trevina Cemetery are one and the same.

Buck Horn Cemetery: Article says its location is no longer known (source the Baxter Bulletin article circa 2002). Note: Buck Horn Township covers the Arkana area. This may be a clue.

Collis Family Cemetery: On the “Find A Grave” website, there is mention of a Collis Family Cemetery, located 5 miles West of Mountain Home, where a person by the name of William Crane is buried. There is no other information or details provided.

Federal Army Cemetery: Mary Ann Messick states in her Baxter County History Book, circa 1973, that this cemetery is the resting place of some 14 union troops who were killed in a surprise skirmish in the autumn of 1864 and buried where they fell. She says the cemetery is located on the farm of Rex and Levi Reed between State Highway 126 and the Prairie Road, and that at one point in time it was surrounded by a low rock wall. Research indicates that the current Tucker Cemetery Road (Baxter CR 6) was also called “Prairie Road” at some point in the past. No other specific location information has ever been provided or located in other sources. This cemetery is mentioned in the Baxter Bulletin cemetery article circa 2002, (which I believe was just a re-print from a much earlier issue), but that information was taken from Ms. Messick’s book. Several persons residing in the general area have been asked about this cemetery but have been unfamiliar with it. Note: In August, 2011 I was told that the cemetery might be on the property now owned by Mr. Eugene Reed. I spoke with Mr. Reed in person. He told me that his family has always known that this cemetery is located on their property but they do not know its exact whereabouts. He told me there are portions of low rock walls on more than one area of his property, and he has also found large rocks that appear to be marking corners of a particular area. The Reeds also have an interest in someday being able to pinpoint the exact location. The property lies in the SW 1/4 of Section 11 and NW 1/4 of Section 14, Township 19N, Range 14W.

Note: 04/01/2012. I visited the site of the probable location of the Federal Army Cemetery with Mr. Eugene Reed. He took me to an area where once a low rock wall making an enclosure in a more or less rectangular form had been. He stated this was the place that Ms. Messick visited with his grandfather in 1968 when she was researching her book. This site and surrounding area became grown up with brush and briars and have now been bull dozed and cleared. There is nothing remaining except for two large tress that marked the general boundaries of one side of the cemetery location. Mr. Reed indicated the low rock wall ran between these two trees, then several yards out in front of the trees on each side, then back together again to form the low rock wall that was once there.

Green Mountain Cemetery: Said to be off McGowan Road (CR 74) at the base of the mountain in Southern Baxter County. Stalagmites are said to mark some of the graves. No other information is known. This is from personal accounts. This cemetery is not mentioned in any source or reference material.

Henderson Cemetery:There is mention of an Old Henderson Cemetery on at least one of the genealogical web sites. It is said to be “just outside of Mountain Home” and that about 5 gravesites are visible, marked only with field stones. It is said to be a family cemetery. No additional location information or specific directions are provided. This cemetery is not mentioned in the Baxter County Cemetery Book, nor in the Baxter Bulletin cemetery article or map. No other information has been found for it.

Hightower Farm Cemetery:There is a mention on the “Find A Grave” web site of a Hightower Farm Cemetery said to have been located somewhere in the Whiteville area where at least two persons are buried. No other information is given or known.

Old Conelly Cemetery:This old cemetery is said to be downstream from the Norfork Dam on Corp Project Land. It was supposedly inventoried in 1979 by Corp Park Ranger Ron Bata. At that time, it contained one marked stone with a name and dates, plus several gravesites marked only with upright field stones. Even in 1979, the cemetery was said to be covered in downed limbs and thick with undergrowth. It is mentioned in the Baxter County Cemetery book circa 1993. The grave of Fannie Ward and at least one infant was said to be located near this cemetery, on the opposite side of the county road leading to Gene’s Trout Dock. The Fannie Ward gravesite has been located and identified (see Ward Family Cemetery), however a walking tour on the opposite side of the county road failed to uncover any evidence of the Old Conelly Cemetery. The Army Corp of Engineers has thus far been unable to provide any additional useful information. In the Baxter Bulletin cemetery article circa 2002, there is one brief sentence indicating that the Old Conelly Cemetery and the Old Sales Cemetery (also in the same area) may be one and the same. The Old Sales Cemetery has been located and photographed. It is in the woods just to the West of the dump station at the Quarry River Campground. It was very overgrown and difficult to locate until cleaned up in 2011 by Baxter County Jail Inmates. It also contains one (1) marked stone, but the name and dates are somewhat different from the one reported to be at the Old Conelly Cemetery during the 1979 survey. Therefore, it is quite possible that they are not the same. NOTE: The Baxter Bulletin Cemetery Map circa 1993 shows a place mark for this cemetery on the opposite side of the White River (which would be the South bank), but this does not match the description given in the Cemetery Book. NOTE: An archaeologist with the Army Corp of Engineers in October, 2010 stated that this cemetery and the Old Sales Cemetery are one and the same, just known by different names. He stated there is only one (1) cemetery on Corp project land below the Norfork Dam. However, information posted on a genealogical web site discussion still indicates two separate cemeteries exist(ed).

Old Fairview Cemetery:Online research has found that old family histories and obituaries report the existence of an “Old” Fairview Cemetery that was said to be approximately ¼ to ½ mile NW of the current Fairview Cemetery off Baxter CR 57. It was said to be located near a spring and near an old homestead. It is said to contain many burials dated before approximately 1875, which was about the time the current Fairview Cemetery was started. Other than family histories and genealogical records, there are no other sources or materials that mention this cemetery. The area it was said to be located in now appears to be cleared pasture land. It is probable that no visible evidence of the cemetery still exists today.

Old Lone Rock Cemetery:Located in the Lone Rock area near the rock for which the area is named. Overgrown and marked with field stones (source Baxter County cemetery article, circa 2002). There is a “Cockrum Cemetery” known to be located on private property owned by the Almans on Baxter CR 111 in Lone Rock that has also been referred to as the “Old Lone Rock Cemetery”, however there are multiple headstone markers found there with names, dates, and other descriptors. Therefore, this does not match the information about there being unmarked field stones only at the “Old Lone Rock Cemetery”.

Mooney Cemeteries (2): According to the Baxter County Cemetery Book, there were two cemeteries located on the Old Mooney Plantation at the junction of Rainbow Drive and Whiteville Road. The first contained remains of the Mooney slaves and people of mixed blood. The second contained members of the Mooney family. The cemeteries were said to have had no visible markings for numerous decades past.

Unknown Cemetery #64, Rainbow Drive Area: The Baxter Bulletin cemetery map circa 1993 shows a place mark for a cemetery identified only as “Rainbow Drive Area #64” that is somewhere along the Rainbow Drive -Denton Ferry Road, some distance North of the Baxter CR 7 intersection, on the right side of the roadway. No additional information of any kind is provided, and this cemetery does not appear in any other sources or materials commonly available.

Unknown Cemetery #7, Mallard Point Area:The web site www.arkansasgravestones.org has a place mark for a cemetery only identified as “Unknown #7” located in a narrow wooded area between Baxter CR 984 and Partridge Place in the Mallard Point area. There is no other information nor any other details of any kind provided. A walking tour in the winter of 2010 failed to locate any evidence of a cemetery or burial site(s) here. The cemetery is shown as a place mark on the Baxter Bulletin cemetery map circa 1993. It does not appear in any other sources or materials commonly available.

Waire Springs Cemetery:According to Mary Ann Messick’s History of Baxter County, there are two graves located at Waire Spring in North Monkey Run. One grave is for 30 year old “Old Man Waire” and the other for his dog. There is no additional information available on this.

Whitsell Cemetery:Mary Ann Messick states in her book that “Granny Whitsell” is buried in a field in the back of the Johnny Reed farm located on Bruce Creek hill after leaving Rainbow Drive. The gravesite is said to be outlined in a large square with jonquils and is visible each spring. No additional information is available.

Wlkerson Cemetery: It is reported that four or five graves from the “Dunk Alley” (Joseph Duncan Alley) family were at this little cemetery, said to be just East of the Old Baxter County Library (now the Mountain Home Police Department) on 7^th Street in Mountain Home (source Baxter Bulletin cemetery article circa 2002). It has also been reported in other sources that when the library expanded many years ago, the parking lot extension covered over the gravesites and that nothing visible remains today of this cemetery.

Special Notes: Mention has been made of a small cemetery containing three graves somewhere in the Colfax community. No other information is known. Also, there is said to be a small cemetery on a “triangular” piece of property somewhere near the Three Brothers Community. No other information is known.

Down from the Reed’s Grove Cemetery, along a wet weather creek, is said to be at least three graves marked by tall field stones. They are believed to be still standing, but no names are known.

On the property of the Baxter County landfill there is said to be a small area containing 3 or 4 graves, now currently surrounded by the landfill. These graves were said to have been known and left alone while trench work for the landfill was done around them.

Research is still underway on all of these "unknowns", and hopefully more information can be uncovered about them.

Per the Baxter County Cemetery Book and U. S. Army Corp of Engineers documents, the following cemeteries were re-located or combined with other existing cemeteries when the Norfork and Bull Shoals Dams were built:

Alley Cemetery (combined with Hart Cemetery)

Anglin Cemetery (now part of Oakland Cemetery)

Bean Cemetery (moved to new location in Gamaliel)

Bluff Springs Cemetery (combined with Hart Cemetery)

Cantrell Cemetery (now part of Custer-Herron Cemetery)

Cockran Cemetery (now part of Custer-Herron Cemetery)

Cockrums Cemetery No. 1 (now part of Maynard Cemetery)

Cockrums Cemetery No. 2 (now part of Quality Ridge Cemetery)

Custer Cemetery (moved and now part of Custer-Herron Cemetery)

Dennis Cemetery (moved and now part of Thacker/Green Briar Cemetery)

Etherage Cemetery (moved to “New” Hand Cemetery)

Green Briar Cemetery (moved and combined with Thacker Cemetery)

Geans Cemetery (now part of Quality Ridge Cemetery)

Hand Cemetery (moved to new location at Hall’s Chapel - Jordan Area)

Henderson Cemetery (moved and now part of Custer-Herron Cemetery)

Herron Cemetery (moved and now part of Custer-Herron Cemetery)

Hogan Cemetery (now part of Oakland Cemetery)

Kerley Cemetery (moved to “New” Hand Cemetery)

Lankford Cemetery (moved and now part of Custer-Herron Cemetery)

Maynard Cemetery (moved to new location on Hwy 101 N, also called “Maynard Bend Cemetery")

Reed Cemetery (combined with Maynard Cemetery)

Reynolds Cemetery (moved to Deweytown Cemetery in Fulton County)

Russell Cemetery (moved to “New” Hand Cemetery)

Tripp Cemetery (now part of Quality Ridge Cemetery)

Trivitt Cemetery (relocated to Hwy 201 N as the “New” Trivitt Cemetery, now called the Quality Ridge Cemetery)

Yocum Cemetery (now part of Oakland Cemetery)

Meeks Family Cemetery found in Gamaliel area

     There is a small burial site located in the Gamaliel area that I will call the Meeks Family Cemetery.  It is located on the Meeks Farm in the 10,000 block of State Highway 101 North in the Gamaliel area on the West side of the roadway.  The cemetery is in a field immediately adjacent to a private residence.

     There is only one gravestone in the cemetery.  It reads, "Meeks, Mother Rachel C. 1863-1938, William H. 1861-19__".  The gravestone is faded and eroded making it somewhat difficult to read. 

The only gravestone in the Meeks Family Cemetery.

 

Another view of the Meeks Family Cemetery.