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Submitted: 12/6/21 • Approved: 12/6/21 • Last Updated: 12/9/21 • R1404878-G0-S3
*Union Hill Cemetery
Holly Springs, Arkansas
List updated June 21, 2004
Legal description: SE, SE, SW, Sect.34, T9N, R7W
Earliest listed grave: 1896
Last listed grave: 1922
Arkansas Archeological Survey site #: 3WH0625
This abandoned cemetery is located about a quarter-mile north of Holly Springs Church. Residents of the area today call this cemetery "Union Hill." Years earlier, it was apparently called "Old Jeffery Burial Ground." And it was also listed as Holly Springs Cemetery in May 1962 by Cloie and Leister Presley of the White County Historical Society, who reported it "just about on the line between Section 3, Range 7 West, Township 8 North and Section 34, Range 7 West, Township 9 North." Their list was published in the 1971 edition of the Society’s White County Heritage. "This location was abandoned," they wrote, "because of the difficulty in digging graves in the rocks. A boy was killed by a pitched ball in a baseball game and they never could get his grave dug deep enough in the rocks. This was the last effort to bury there."
The cemetery was visited July 20, 2000, by Historical Society member Leroy Blair. Following is his report: "This cemetery is located just north of the Holly Springs Church on Fairview Road. It is at the first house on the right side of the road almost in the back yard. It is very overgrown with broken markers. There appear to be several unmarked graves." Also, he noted that a new marker was recently placed at this cemetery which has the name Genetta Chilcoate Davenport on one side and "Old Jeffery Burial Ground" on the other side.
"When we crawled through the barbed wire fence and visited the cemetery in 1962, it was in sad shape," Leister Presley said in June 2002. "Graves were sunken and the place had obviously been abandoned." (Number in parenthesis indicates the position on the Presleys’ list.) They reported indications of 20 other burials or attempted burials.
If you have corrections or additional information on this cemetery, contact the White County Historical Society, P.O. Box 537, Searcy, AR 72145.
www.argenweb.net
Contributed on 12/6/21 by hawkinsdonna48
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Record #: 1404878