I came across this interesting looking cemetery today and thought it was worth sharing.
Hico Cemetery in Siloam Springs, AR.
It is laid out with the cemetery sign in the center and all the headstones in a circle around it. Very much like a rock garden. It sits next to an empty field that still has a few field stones visible here and there. The grave markers are dated from the mid 1840s to the early 1900s. From the ones I can read 1843 is the earliest burial and 1908 was the latest burial. Sadly the stones are in pretty rough shape.
Hico Cemetery
Dedicated as an expression of
Appreciation to the devotion and
Sound principles upon which
Hico and Siloam City were founded.
Erected by the Hico Cemetery
Association, The Jaycees and Friends.
1976
********************************
From the moment I laid eyes on it I wondered why it was laid out in a circle. After doing a little research I got my answer.
According to http://www.arkansasgravestones.org/ an entry by wfields55 states the following.
At Hico Cemetery the grave stones are in a circle, but the graves are still in the yard surrounding the circle. Foot stones and the bases for the headstones are still visible in some places. As I understand it, in the early 1970s the city moved the grave stones from Hico Cemetery to Oak Hill Cemetery in order to reduce vandalism. Outraged citizens then formed the Hico Cemetery Association to raise funds to bring the stones back, but there was no way to know which grave each stone should mark, so they were placed in a circle around the memorial monument.
It's really quite lovely, isn't it? Very unique
ReplyDelete@pugbug I think it is. It's the first I've ever seen laud out like this.
ReplyDeleteWhat a super idea, stops anyone from getting a more desirable plot than anyone else.
ReplyDeleteI love this layout. But I still hope that anyone that steals, moves, or defaces a gravestone is haunted ever after.
ReplyDeleteI live up the street from this cemetery. I was always led to believe that the bodies of the dead are a bit further up from the Hico dedication stone. There is house on top of some of those buried. I know the people in the house and they said before it was a house is was a rectory. I don't know if this is true, but many towns folk have confirmed what I have heard. I do know that unusual things occur in the garden of that house!
ReplyDeleteLook what happened surrounding this cemetery in an article in 2018. They built a walkway directly thru that same area.
ReplyDelete