Pioneer Cemetery Washington Arkansas

10/01/2025

Saturday, October 11
Cemetery Workshop
9am--Noon
Our local cemeteries are important parts of our community history. Learn how to properly care and clean tombstones with the park curator. The workshop will cover the basics of tombstone care and demonstrate cleaning techniques on stones in the Pioneer Cemetery. Register by calling the park at 870-983-2684.
$25 per person

05/13/2025

Saturday, May 24
Cemetery Workshop
9am--Noon
Our local cemeteries are important parts of our community history. Learn how to properly care and clean tombstones with the park curator. The workshop will cover the basics of tombstone care and demonstrate cleaning techniques on stones in the Pioneer Cemetery. Register by calling the park at 870-983-2684.
$25 per person

08/04/2023

Attention all homeschool students and their families! Do you want to step back in time and experience life on the frontier? Then join us at Historic Washington State Park for Frontier Days! This exciting event will take place on September 22, 2023, and is the perfect opportunity to learn about the history of our great state while having some good old-fashioned fun.

03/07/2023

The AAS has been instrumental in helping with restoration of the Pioneer Cemetery. Learn about something vital to the lives of those who now rest here.

March is Arkansas Archeology Month! The Ouachita Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society celebrates Archeology Month with a special presentation by Dr. Beverly Watkins on “Historic Salt Works in Arkansas, 1819-1865.” It will be held Tuesday, March 7th at 7:00 p.m. in the board room at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts (200 Whittington, Hot Springs). The event is free and open to the public. Join us!

03/07/2023

Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
March 11, 2023
12 P.M. - 2 P.M.
RSVP 870-983-2684

04/03/2022

A workshop held at a partner site

TEXARKANA, Ark. - At the State Line Cemetery in Texarkana, Arkansas, there are graves of people who were buried more than 100 years ago.

02/02/2022

You can see the same symbol in many cemeteries.

19th century grave markers utilized a coded language of symbols to tell about the life of those they memorialized. The first person laid to rest in Ross Cemetery, where Minerva Murrell is buried, was her brother John McDonald Ross. John, a Princeton graduate, was only twenty one when he passed away. His monument was made in the form of a broken pillar, a symbol of a life cut short.

09/12/2021

The park is offering evening programs in the cemetery called "Who is buried here?". Check with them for availability, dates, and how you can join.

07/02/2021

Gravestones being Repaired in Pioneer Cemetery

Historic Washington State Park has had several gravestones that have been compromised due to age, weather, and erosion. Fortunately, at least ten gravestones in the Pioneer Cemetery are being repaired and there bases reset. All of this is possible through the generous support from the Troike-Patterson Foundation.

A Crockett, Texas company, Texas Cemetery Restoration doing restoration work in Texas and Arkansas, handled the restoration work. The cemetery gravestones have been systematically cleaned through a project started in 2011.
Stones repaired include two children of Abraham and Francis Block and Maria Louisa Roberts, wife of local Methodist minister.

While doing the repairs on the broken and fallen tablet of Roberts' gravestone, the missing base was found buried below the surface of the ground and was still a bright white marble. The recovered section contained an inscription and the name of the stone mason, J. White of Memphis, Tennessee who carved the stone.

There are more markers left to be repaired and the park hopes, through future grants and donations, to do those restorations in the near future. This is just one of the many ways Historic Washington State Park, along with grants from community partners, preserves the resources of Washington for future generations.

06/28/2021

People often wonder about gravestone symbols. This can be handy to search for meanings in this cemetery and at others you visit.

Gravestone symbols can contain clues about your ancestor’s life and death. Discover the meaning behind common (and several uncommon!) gravestone symbols.

05/28/2021

Have you ever wondered what the symbols on a gravestone means?

Lettering is only a small part of a gravestone design. Almost all of my headstones incorporate a small carving of a symbol or motif. Choosing a symbol is often difficult and may be inspired by something your loved one was passionate about or simply an image from nature. Here are some symbols from my...