LivingTravelHistory of the dead at Mount Holly Cemetery in...

History of the dead at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas

“Our fear of death is like our fear that summer is short, but when we’ve had our rush of pleasure, our abundance of fruit, and our sweltering heat, we say we’ve had our day.”

Where in Arkansas can you walk among senators, Confederate generals, and governors? Mount Holly Cemetery, of course. That is, if you don’t mind some ghost stories. Mount Holly Cemetery is the most historically significant cemetery in Arkansas. It is the final resting place of many or early Arkansas leaders.

Mount Holly is not the oldest cemetery in Arkansas. The pioneer cemetery in Batesville carries that honor. It was established in 1820. Mount Holly was established in 1843, which is less than a decade after Arkansas became a state, to give the growing state more burial space. Mount Holly was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is located at 12th Street and Broadway in Little Rock, AR.

The cemetery is the final resting place of the executed 17-year-old Confederate spy, David O. Dodd, as well as five Confederate generals and countless Confederate soldiers. Dodd is the most famous causality of the Civil War that rests there. He was arrested at Ten Mile House near Little Rock and sentenced to hang by the Union occupation forces after a brief trial. Dodd was called “the boy hero of the Confederacy” and a tombstone calls him “boy marty.”

Also buried are 10 former Arkansas governors, 6 United States senators, 14 Arkansas Supreme Court justices, and 21 city mayors. You can also find the graves of Sanford C. Faulkner, the original ‘Arkansas Traveler’, William E. Woodruff, the founder of the Arkansas Gazette, the wife of Cherokee chief John Ross, and the Pulitzer Prize winner John Gould Fletcher, to name a few. . Walking through the cemetery is like walking through history. Almost all stones mark a bit of history.

The art in the cemetery is almost as amazing as the people who have ended their lives there. Some of the stones date back to 1800. Since many mark the end of prominent lives, you can imagine that the art is magnificent. However, it is equally interesting to see the smooth stones and the epitaphs on them. Mount Holly has something for everyone.

Even those interested in the paranormal will fill up on Mount Holly. Mount Holly is rumored to be a hot bed of paranormal activity. Visitors to the cemetery have reported that some of the statues move in front of them and photos taken in the cemetery suggest the same. I have seen photos taken in the cemetery that have ghostly images of what looks like people dressed in period clothing (if you try a bit) and strange lights and apparitions in them. Some say they hear a ghostly flute playing in the cemetery.

People living around the cemetery reported finding pieces of tombs or statues mysteriously placed in their gardens and trinkets were reported to appear mysteriously on graves. Can all this be explained by science? It may be so. I dare you to go at night with your camera to find out! Around Halloween, you can take a ghost tour that will challenge you to do the same. The night is the best time to see the ghostly apparitions and lights, although they can also be seen during the day (on and off the camera).

Mount Holly is open to the public and is located on 12th Street in downtown Little Rock. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Do not fear death, the sooner we die, the longer we will be immortal” and these greats from Arkansas are surely immortal.

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