Pisgah (Pike County)

Pisgah is a community located in Pike County about four miles south of Delight (Pike County) and four miles east of Billstown (Pike County).

The first settlers to the area included Green Oldham, who obtained a federal land patent for about 200 acres of land in 1859 and 1860. Other early land owners included Andrew Stelle and John Harris, who arrived in the area around the same time, obtaining parcels of farmland. The name of the community came from the Bible and was chosen by early settlers who viewed the area as a promised land.

A number of local men served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. Many served in the Nineteenth Arkansas Infantry Regiment and were captured at the Battle of Arkansas Post in January 1863. Several later died in prison camps, and some were paroled and later served in other units.

After the war, numerous families moved to the area, including that of Jim Copeland, a Confederate veteran and Baptist minister. After serving two terms as sheriff, Copeland served a term in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1885 to 1886 and a term in the Arkansas Senate from 1887 to 1890.

A school was established in the community in 1872. A wood-frame structure, the two-story building was also used as a Masonic Hall. Other fraternal organizations with chapters in the area included the Woodmen of the World. In 1930, the school consolidated with Delight.

Three churches operated in the area, with the earliest, Liberty Hill Missionary Baptist Church, being organized in 1872; it was joined by a Methodist church in 1893 and a Church of Christ in 1913.

Several stores opened in the community over the years, operated by Bill Jones, John Roundtree, Dan Campbell, and Joe Willet, among others. A cotton gin and grist mill also operated in the area for a time. The community never had a post office, and families instead relied on service from nearby offices.

Highway 195 runs through the community. It first appears on state highway maps as a gravel county road in 1958. It was paved between Pisgah and Delight in 1970, and a bridge was constructed across the Little Missouri River south of the community in 1973, the same year it was added to the state highway system.

In the twenty-first century, the community consists of several homes and the Liberty Hill Missionary Baptist Church. The area mostly consists of timberland and farmland.

For additional information:
Pike County Heritage Club. Early History of Pike County, Arkansas: The First One Hundred Years. Murfreesboro, AR: Pike County Heritage Club, 1978.

David Sesser
Henderson State University