Before the War Eagle Craft Fairs | The Blackburn Story
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Walk through almost any old cemetery in Arkansas and it is easy to focus on the names and dates carved into the stones. But spend a little more time looking and you’ll begin to notice other details. There are lambs and doves, clasped hands and anchors. Some graves have elaborate monuments while others are marked with homemade stones or unusual coverings. Even the way graves are grouped together can tell part of a story.
Author Abby Burnett has been paying attention to those details for decades. She became interested in Arkansas cemeteries after moving to the state more than 40 years ago and began studying them seriously around 2000. Research for her book Though Silent They Speak: Arkansas Gravestones and Graveyards eventually took her to all 75 Arkansas counties, many of them multiple times.
Burnett’s earlier book, Gone to the Grave, looks at the ways people in the Ozarks cared for and buried their dead before the professional funeral industry. Though Silent They Speak focuses specifically on Arkansas cemeteries and some of the unusual markers, traditions and stories found within them. Both books have made me look a little closer when I visit a cemetery, and Burnett says there is plenty for the rest of us to discover, too.
Reading an Arkansas Cemetery
Before focusing on individual names, take a look around. Large structures may grab your attention first. Burnett says grave houses are rare, but they can still be found in Arkansas, along with statues, obelisks and other large monuments. In the Ozarks, you may also encounter stone coffins above the ground that represent the coffin buried below.
But “reading” a cemetery can also mean looking for patterns. Older marble and limestone markers may be grouped together while newer granite markers occupy another section. A cluster of deaths around 1918 might reflect the influenza epidemic. Dates can also reveal periods of war or a surprising number of mothers and very young children dying within a community. Instead of immediately moving from stone to stone, take a few minutes to notice the cemetery as a whole and what it might tell you about the people who once lived nearby.
Symbols in Stone
Symbols are one of the most interesting things to look for on older gravestones. They can provide clues about faith, family, organizations or how the person was remembered. But Burnett cautions that we shouldn’t always assume we know what they mean, because the symbols the family selected were often personal rather than trendy. Here are a few to look for:
Clasped hands: Often associated with farewell, marriage or the hope of being reunited. Look closely at the details. One stone carved by Arkansas stonecarver Nick Miller in Western Grove depicts two left hands clasping.
Lamb: Commonly associated with innocence and often found on children’s graves. Burnett’s example from Alpena is a primitive carving of a lamb on the Coker grave.
Dove: Often connected with peace, innocence or the soul. At Oark, three doves on one marker represent three triplets who died.
Weeping willow: A longstanding symbol of grief and mourning and a fairly easy one to recognize once you know to look for it.
Anchor: This one can be misleading. Burnett says people sometimes see an anchor and assume the deceased had a connection to the Navy. Historically, the anchor could represent hope. Burnett explains that an anchor can also carry a deeper Christian meaning. If life is compared to a voyage, the anchor isn’t dropped in the middle of the ocean. It is dropped after reaching a safe harbor.
Tree stump or log: Some tree-shaped markers are associated with Woodmen of the World, a fraternal benefit society. Burnett photographed one at Cypress Valley Cemetery near Vilonia that even carries the signature of its maker on the end of the carved log.
Symbols don’t always have one simple definition, and fraternal emblems can be especially difficult to identify. Along with familiar Masonic and Odd Fellows symbols, Arkansas graves can carry emblems connected to railroad brotherhoods and African American organizations including the Mosaic Templars and United Brothers of Friendship.
Unusual Finds
Not every interesting grave requires decoding a symbol. One of Burnett’s favorites is the grave of Dr. Emile Overton Moore in Helena. A life-size statue of an Irish setter named Pedro stands at his grave. Even more interesting is the inscription, which claims Moore was killed by cowards who conspired to murder him. Burnett’s research found that wasn’t what happened. Moore was killed by another doctor acting in self-defense. It is a good reminder that even words carved in stone aren’t necessarily the end of the story.
Burnett also looks for photoceramics, homemade markers and unusual grave coverings. At Cherry Hill Cemetery in Polk County, nine graves are covered with shells arranged in the shape of hexagonal coffin lids. She has also documented children’s markers carved with shoes and socks and even one depicting a little girl’s doll.
Finding the Story Behind the Stone
When a stone catches your attention, take a good photograph and record the name, dates and cemetery so you can continue researching at home. Burnett typically begins with Ancestry and Find a Grave to see what information others have already uncovered. She also searches historical newspapers through Newspapers.com. From there, research may move offline to genealogy rooms at local libraries, historical societies, museums and the Arkansas State Archives.
Sometimes deeper research can change the story a bit. Burnett once learned of a Yell County grave that was supposedly marked with the Model T Ford axle that had been used to kill Luther Hopkins in 1921. She visited and photographed the marker, but on a later trip encountered a local man who told her the original axle had actually been stolen years earlier.
Document What You Find
When you begin your cemetery research journey, there isn’t one right thing to document. Burnett began by photographing lambs and found that one interest led to another. Take pictures of whatever catches your attention but do it without damaging the stone. Grave rubbings are now generally discouraged, as is improper cleaning. Burnett especially cautions against using shaving cream to make inscriptions more readable because it can damage the stone.
Photograph the full marker as well as interesting details, and don’t forget to look at the back and sides. Record where you found it and take pictures of nearby stones when they appear to be connected. Those details can be helpful later if a simple cemetery visit turns into a much bigger research project.
Look a Little Closer
Perhaps the best lesson from Though Silent They Speak is simply to slow down. “I hope they start seeing the details in the carvings,” Burnett said. Early stones can be almost like puzzles, with small symbols, writing and other details tucked into unexpected places. She has found carvers’ signatures, additional epitaphs and even causes of death carved on the backs of stones.
Names and dates tell us who is buried beneath a stone, but they aren’t always the whole story. Learning to notice the symbols, materials, inscriptions and little details can turn a walk through an Arkansas cemetery into a chance to better understand the people and communities that came before us.
Special thanks to Abby Burnett for sharing her knowledge, stories and photographs for this article. Burnett is the author of Gone to the Grave: Burial Customs of the Arkansas Ozarks, 1850–1950 and Though Silent They Speak: Arkansas Gravestones and Graveyards, both of which can be found through local libraries and bookstores or purchased through online retailers. She is also a co-author, with Ellen Compton and John D. Little, of When the Presbyterians Came to Kingston: Kingston Community Church 1917–1951. Burnett later gave the rights to that book to the Madison County Historical and Genealogical Society, which keeps it in print and receives all proceeds from its sales.
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