Menu
North Sawba cemetery in sorry condition
To the editor:
Can you tell me if the city of Blytheville has brush-hogged their cemeteries yet? I would dare say that your citizens would be outraged if they saw a brush hog go down the rows of the cemeteries of Dogwood or Elmwood chipping away at stones or momentous left in honor of loved ones. This is inconceivable, right?
In mid-June, I began a search which led me from Oklahoma into Missouri where my sister joined me, to Arkansas and Tennessee. Together we searched achieves and visited 17 cemeteries doing research on our family tree. One of our goals was to find the grave of our great-grandfather, Hiram Ulysess Grant Croslow. After finding an obit at the Steele Enterprise in Steele, Mo., we now knew the cemetery where he was buried.
Of the 17 cemeteries my sister and I visited, only one left a lasting impression on my heart. We saw cemeteries which were beautifully kept. We found people who were willing to show us where our family members gravesites were. Yet, to this day, the condition in which we found the cemetery where my great-grandfather is buried grieves my heart. We saw beautiful towering monuments from the road. Yet, we wonder how we could see what was written on them. The desire to see was greater than fear of snakes and other creatures. So with camera in hand, over my head, I began the walk through knee-high, at times waist-high grass, to the pillars which honored the dead that lie in the North Sawba Cemetery. From a place where we dare not drive any further we saw only a handful of headstones.
I got online and found a few sites that talked about the North Sawba Cemetery. I saw one comment written that the city of Blytheville did brush hog this particular cemetery. I saw a picture that was taken in 2009 that showed far more markers than what we were able to see.
I read on those stones there are as many as 5,000 people buried on these hallowed grounds. There were no visible boundaries of the North Sawba Cemetery. No trees or neatly laid rows marked the path to try and find our loved one's final resting place. I realize that the things which happened in the past cannot be changed. Today, I am not talking about 1942, but discussing the condition of cemetery in June of 2011. I read that there were Civil War and World War I veterans buried here. I saw that there are several members which carry the same surname. There are infants and children who died way too young. Somewhere in that tall grass, is the place where my grandfather was buried. His name not on the towering monuments, but I venture to say there are many still unaccounted for.
As you continue to brush hog, more monuments will be lost. There are too many forgotten cemeteries! Be creative! Need a tourist attraction? Turn that area into a muesum. Not only display the story on the pillars but go into story of the base opening and closing. Search basements and old photographs -- it must have been a major event. It was every day the government moved a cemetery to make way for a military training facility. Get in touch with the people who operate the Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn. Their Bird Sanctuary fits in well with their cemetery.
Preserve the past, don't destroy it.