Grave importance

Preservation society hopes to identify, protect unmarked graves

Mike Kish, president of the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society, looks at a grave marker at the McCraw Cemetery in Jacksonville. Kish and other society members recently heard from an archaeologist that there may be a potter’s field next to the cemetery’s border.
Mike Kish, president of the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society, looks at a grave marker at the McCraw Cemetery in Jacksonville. Kish and other society members recently heard from an archaeologist that there may be a potter’s field next to the cemetery’s border.

It’s easy to miss the narrow dirt path off Military Road in Jacksonville that leads to the historic McCraw Cemetery. The hidden cemetery holds dozens of graves from as far back as the early 1800s. Recently, an archaeologist familiar with the site found even more hidden treasures outside the cemetery, and members of a local preservation society hope to identify and protect that history.

The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society has owned and managed the McCraw Cemetery for about 10 years, said Mike Kish, the organization’s president.

The cemetery sits near an area that was a major thoroughfare in the 1800s, and Civil War soldiers, farmers and Native Americans traveling along the Trail of Tears utilized the roads in the area.

The archaeologist was brought to the site recently to make sure nothing would be disturbed by the construction of a pipeline that is planned for the area. He was brought in by the pipeline company and recently gave a walking tour and report of the area to members of the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society. With the discovery of a grave outside the cemetery, the archaeologist reported that he believes he has found a potter’s field, which would have served as the final resting place for an unknown number of people. He suggested the pipeline location be moved 100 feet, and the pipeline company took that advice and moved the pipeline’s path 150 feet.

A potter’s field is a burial site for poor people, travelers and anyone unable to pay for a plot in a cemetery. The archaeologist said artifacts were found to indicate a grave, and he hypothesized that there are more graves because of discolored soil, low spots in the ground and oddly placed irises that may have served as “cemetery flags” to indicate graves.

Tommy Dupree, a member of the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society, said that when the organization built a fence around the McCraw Cemetery five years ago, volunteers had to guess at its borders. Now they know there are probably more graves extending several yards out.

“There were a whole lot more graves there than what we realized,” he said.

At this point, the archaeologist suggested that the preservation society consider utilizing ground-penetrating radar to definitely identify some of the graves in the potter’s field. That costs time and money, and Kish and Dupree said they hope to be able to either get grants or some other kind of financial assistance to help identify the graves.

“The big thing is that we want people out here to recognize the fact that all of this history is here,” Dupree said. “We want to preserve it. We want to maximize the tourism aspect of it for the economic aspect, too.”

The preservation society is also interested in purchasing that land, but members have not been successful in identifying the owner in order to discuss the sale.

“There is so much history out here,” Kish said.

Kish said the best way to contact the preservation society about donating or volunteering is through the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society Facebook page.

Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.

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