Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bella Vista Historical Society hosts cemetery tour
BELLA VISTA — The Bella Vista Historical Society hosted a historical cemetery tour April 16, visiting several cemeteries around the area.
Xyta Lucas, co-president of the historical society, led the tour, stopping first at Funk Cemetery on Sherlock Drive.
The small cemetery is named after May Funk, who died in 1922, she said. The land the cemetery is on was formerly the grounds of the Rocky Comfort School. May Funk found out she had tuberculosis and that she was going to die, and she told her loved ones she wanted to be buried on the school grounds.
Also buried in the cemetery is Freddie McCombs, a relative of May Funk. McCombs died in 1923. An infant grave is also there, and apparently someone in the community had an infant who died and they asked for permission to bury their child in the Funk Cemetery, Lucas said.
The historical society got a grant last year to put a fence around the Funk Cemetery. Lucas explained that the cemetery had been decorated and the city received some complaints from someone thinking the cemetery was a roadside marker, which the city has an ordinance prohibiting. At that time, all the decorations were removed. Now that a fence has been installed marking the site as an actual cemetery, the decorations have not been disturbed.
She also said the site of the infant grave was originally unknown, and it was found with the help of a man named Terry Davis from the Mount Comfort Cemetery Association. She explained the local Questers chapter was looking for a project and decided to identify some graves at Summit Cemetery. Lucas considered ground-penetrating radar for the project, but that proved to be cost prohibitive. Then she found out that Davis does what is called grave dowsing, similar to water dowsing. He uses copper wires to find a grave, holding them straight in his hands, and they cross at one end of the grave and uncross at the other, she said. She said she was astounded that it works, but it somehow does. Davis identified the site of the infant grave, and a stone was installed.
Next on the tour was Beavers Cemetery at the corner of Lorna Drive and Edinburgh.
When the historical society became involved with preserving this cemetery, it was thought the cemetery was smaller, about 30 graves, because it was overgrown and the graves were not all marked, Lucas said. Once they had Davis come out, they identified 97 more graves, which they marked with white crosses. A work detail team from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office cleaned out the trees where the cemetery was overgrown and built a fence around it.
The cemetery was established by Lewis Beavers, who donated the land. He died and was buried there in 1912. His wife, Martha, was buried there in 1916. Lucas said Lewis Beavers was born in 1865 in Tennessee. He and his wife had 15 children, and he did missionary work.
Also visited was the Donovan/Nott Cemetery north of the Brims Ness Lane cul de sac off Magrath.
The cemetery has a new fence that was built in May 2021 by Eagle Scout Malachi Sequichie.
Buried there are Cyrus Nott, his wife and his daughter. His daughter died first in 1900, and Cyrus Nott established the cemetery, Lucas said. Then his wife died in 1907 and Cyrus Nott died in 1921.
Lucas said the historical society received a call from a descendant of Nott who appreciated the upkeep to the cemetery and who sent a check to cover the expense of having Cyrus Nott’s death date added to his headstone, because it had never been inscribed.
She noted everyone in the area called it the Nott Cemetery, but Cyrus Nott’s obituary said he was buried in the Donovan Cemetery, so it is now called the Donovan/ Nott Cemetery. There was a Donovan Church in the area from which that name would have been derived, she said.
There are a few white crosses in the cemetery, evidence of a visit by Davis. There is also a marker indicating Cyrus Nott was a Union veteran in the Civil War.
Liza Forster was among those on the tour. She divides her time between Bella Vista and Texas and made the trip north just for the tour.
“When I go to an area, I always have to go to the cemeteries, the downtown and the nearest museum,” she said. She noted she appreciated all the work the historical society has done to preserve the Beavers Cemetery.
Also on the tour were the New Home, Summit and Dug Hill Cemeteries.
The historical society is planning another cemetery tour on May 7. The event is a fundraiser for the Bella Vista Historical Museum.
The historical society is planning another cemetery tour on May 7. The event is a fundraiser for the Bella Vista Historical Museum.