Entry Category: Cemeteries and Memorials - Starting with E

The Ebenezer Monument is located at the corner of 9th and Church streets in Mena (Polk County). It was constructed in 1936 by citizens of Mena during their fight against the perceived evils of Commonwealth College, located in rural Polk County. The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 30, 1992. Commonwealth College began operating in Polk County in late 1924. The college traced its beginnings to the Newllano Cooperative Colony in Louisiana. Many of the members of the colony moved to Polk County. After operating briefly in Mena, the college purchased land thirteen miles outside of town and moved there in April 1925. The college educated students while operating as a commune where all …

The El Dorado Confederate Monument is a sculpture erected in 1910 by the Henry G. Bunn Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to commemorate local men who had served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. Ten Confederate infantry companies were raised in Union County during the Civil War, and other men from the county served in various cavalry and artillery units. In late 1908 or early 1909, the Henry G. Bunn Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which had formed in 1907 and named itself for the colonel of the Fourth Arkansas Infantry Regiment, decided to raise a monument to the local men who had fought for the South. “Without a cent of …

The Elm Springs Cemetery, Historic Section, is located in the community of Elm Springs (Washington and Benton counties). The date of the first marked burial is 1852. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 5, 2020. A Methodist church was founded in Elm Springs in 1832, and many of the founding church members are buried in the Historic Section. The first Methodist church building was built in 1850, adjacent to the cemetery’s location. Therefore, many unmarked burials or burials simply marked with fieldstones may be earlier than 1852. The Elm Springs Cemetery, Historic Section, is approximately 3.75 acres. The entrance of the cemetery is marked with a large sign with the name of the …

The Elmwood Poor Farm Cemetery, located in Fort Smith (Sebastian County) at the intersection of South 24th Street and Zero Street, is the only remaining physical on-site reminder of the Sebastian County Poor Farm. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 26, 2018. During the early history of the United States, the ever-growing population of poor citizens was regarded as a danger by many but was seen as a call to service by others. Many citizens and charitable organizations provided services to the poor, as did many local municipalities. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the poorhouse system, first established in England, took root in the United States. Under this system, local governments …

The Ephesus Cemetery is located north of Emmet (Nevada and Hempstead counties). The cemetery is next to the original location of the Ephesus Primitive Baptist Church, established in 1860. The oldest dated burial is from November 1876, and the cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 22, 2009. Early settlers to the area began arriving in the 1850s. A post office in the Emmet area was established in 1871, and the town was platted in 1873. The Ephesus Primitive Baptist Church was one of the earliest churches in the area. A school also operated at the site at the time of the founding of the church, according to the deed dated January 3, 1860. The …

Burials in the historic Evergreen Cemetery in Fayetteville (Washington County) form a “who’s who” of state and local history, including one early governor, four members of Congress, a state Supreme Court judge, several former presidents of the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville, and a famous architect. This cemetery also contains the graves of town founders, private citizens, and those whose names are unknown. Evergreen is located at the corner of West Center Street and North University Avenue, near UA. It began in the 1840s as the private burial ground of the John Thomas family, on what was then their farm. In the twenty-first century, it comprises more than ten acres and holds an estimated 3,000 burials. In 1870, Washington …