Category: History

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Remembering the War to End All Wars

On November 11, 1918, an armistice agreement ended the First World War.  More than 65 million soldiers took part in the war. Eight and a half million soldiers died. Another 21 million suffered wounds and more than 7 million were taken prisoner or went missing. The horrors of this intercontinental conflict should have ended all others.

Nearly four and a half million Americans fought in the battles of this terrible modern war. Arkansas sent nearly 72,000 soldiers. Of those, 2,183 died in combat or from disease and 1,751 suffered wounds or injuries.

Mount Holly Cemetery has 56 residents who fought in World War I. Only one of these, George S. Martin, died in the war. George Martin was born in 1894 and died at Fort Dix, New Jersey September 25, 1918. Like many of his brothers in arms – and many others around the globe that year – Private Martin died of the Spanish flu.

To commemorate the centennial of the armistice, the Arkansas Historic Preservations Programs have invited community organizations to ring bells at “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”

Mount Holly’s bell will ring eleven times to remember our World War I veterans. We invite the public to join us in the cemetery for this event at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, 2018.

More information about the commemoration bells can be found at Arkansas World War I Centennial website.

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Why Picnic in a Cemetery?

The birth of Mount Holly Cemetery was described in our cookbook, Recipes in Perpetuity: “With early burials scattered in various places, the city of Little Rock badly needed a public burying ground.  The problem was solved in 1843 when two of the leading citizens donated a four block square on the ‘outskirts’ of the city,  held a picnic on the land in May, and auctioned off the original lots. ”

Picnics remained a tradition in later years when families of those buried at Mount Holly would have a picnic and tend the graves of their loved ones.

Today we have a dedicated Sexton and staff to maintain the grounds, wonderful Master Gardener volunteers, and a hard-working board to care for the cemetery.  One of the most delightful ways we raise funds for the maintenance of this peaceful and historic spot is to invite our friends to celebrate with us at our annual picnic.

Please join us April 29 at 5 p.m. for the annual Spring Picnic at Mount Holly. We won’t put you to work, but we will definitely enjoy your company, let you browse our silent auction items, tour the cemetery with one of our guides, entertain you, and feed you!

Tickets are available online through April 23. Children are $20 and adults are $100.

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Let Freedom Ring

Matilda Buchanan, a member of the Mount Holly Cemetery Association, welcomed guests to our commemoration of Arkansas’s ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The event was sponsored by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. The commemoration was held at the bell house in the center of the cemetery.

This was her speech:

“April 14, 1865, was a monumental day. That day Arkansas became the 21st state to ratify the amendment to end slavery. That night, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

“On that April day in 1865, Mount Holly Cemetery was just over twenty years old. There were 640 Confederate soldiers buried here. Many were later moved after the war to Oakland Cemetery which had been opened in 1863 mainly to handle the thousands who died in the city’s hospitals during the war. Today  13 Union Soldiers and 217 Confederate Soldiers are buried at Mount Holly.

“The bell house was not here then. It was constructed in 1889, but there may have been a bell in the cemetery in 1865 to summon the sexton. Nevertheless, we stand in a place that connects us to that Little Rock of 150 years ago. Today we gather to reflect on history and to celebrate the ending of a horrible institution which still haunts every American.

“The Sesquicentennial Commission wants us to ring the bell 13 times beginning at 1:00, but I think everyone should ring the bell loudly and as long as we need to.”