[ArkansasSlim]

O.K. let's leave the cemetery for a while so I can post these documents I found in my files. My maternal great great grandfather W.N. Trout (Dr Foosball posted his tombstone photo some time ago) migrated to west Clark County about 1850 and bought 300+ acres and later bought some property in east Pike County. I find no evidence he was in the Civil War, but it appears people who lived in "southern states" during the war had to sign an oath of allegiance and later be given a document permitting them to vote. Here is his.

[ArkansasSlim]

O.K. let's go back to the Gentry Cemetery. The top half of this marker is one we finally found and dug out of the leaf litter. We have found that when they break like this one did, there was a defect in the original stone and after a hundred years or so of weathering, the stone breaks. Usually, when they are broken by vandals, you can see impact points where the markers were hit with something, and they will more often have pieces broken off instead of a clean break like this one. The death date here looks like 1839 (16 years before birth) but if you zoom in you will see that it's 1889.

[ArkansasSlim]

This one had fallen off the plinth it is leaning against.

[ArkansasSlim]

This one was partially buried and it's plinth was a big sandstone and could have been from the cairn.

[ArkansasSlim]

This one had fallen from it's plinth but was not covered by leaf litter.

[ArkansasSlim]

This is the last of the Gentry tombstones. There were a couple more but they were too stained to photo. I'm still intrigued with the unusually large cairn, and through another poster on C-D I have corresponded with a descendant of one of the people named in a photo I posted, but she knows nothing about the cemetery. Oh well.

[ArkansasSlim]

This past summer I posted about accidentally finding an air strip out in the boonies of west Clark County and we all speculated why it was there and I complained that I didn't think to take photos until we were too far on down the road. At that time I estimated it was a quarter mile long and 100 meters wide. Later I looked at it on Google Earth and found it is a half mile long and 75 meters wide and we now find it was constructed and used by International Paper Company for use of contractor planes used for spraying and monitoring the company pine plantations which have blanketed that part of AR. Anyway, we were back in that area a few weeks ago and here it is.

[ArkansasSlim]

I have been driving past this obelisk for 50+ years wondering about it but never stopping to take a look. It is on the shoulder of U.S. 67 west of Benton. I had not seen it for several years and wasn't sure of it's location, but I was in the area last month documenting another cemetery and decided I'd look for it. I found it and photographed it but didn't have time for anything but a quick look. In addition to the obelisk I also found two foot stone size markers (one on each side) with one engraved "H.W." and the other "INFANT". I was sure it had been documented since it is in the highway right-of-way, but when I checked I found it had not been. After last week's snow I went back to do my mapping and while stomping around in the snow and frozen grass I stumbled (almost fell) over another stone the same size as the others and engraved "C.W.". All were in the appropriate north/south alignment for a row of graves. I realized I must kick through the snow and see what else was there and found three plain stones the same size as the others, in the appropriate location for foot stones. So, are these grave markers or are they symbolic to mark the fact those three people are buried there somewhere?

In the photos, Harvy is engraved on the west side of the obelisk and Carann on the east side.

[ArkansasSlim]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

I have been driving past this obelisk for 50+ years wondering about it but never stopping to take a look. It is on the shoulder of U.S. 67 west of Benton. I had not seen it for several years and wasn't sure of it's location, but I was in the area last month documenting another cemetery and decided I'd look for it. I found it and photographed it but didn't have time for anything but a quick look. In addition to the obelisk I also found two foot stone size markers (one on each side) with one engraved "H.W." and the other "INFANT". I was sure it had been documented since it is in the highway right-of-way, but when I checked I found it had not been. After last week's snow I went back to do my mapping and while stomping around in the snow and frozen grass I stumbled (almost fell) over another stone the same size as the others and engraved "C.W.". All were in the appropriate north/south alignment for a row of graves. I realized I must kick through the snow and see what else was there and found three plain stones the same size as the others, in the appropriate location for foot stones. So, are these grave markers or are they symbolic to mark the fact those three people are buried there somewhere?

In the photos, Harvy is engraved on the west side of the obelisk and Carann on the east side.

Welll, something messed up so I'll try again.

[ArkansasSlim]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

Welll, something messed up so I'll try again.

didn't happen again!