Washington County Enterprise-Leader
These Historical Places ‘Matter’
The Washington County Historical Society during the month of May will place 31 signs at various historical places of significance in Washington County, as part of National Preservation Month.
Locally, Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park will have some signage along with the Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth across from Battlefield Park in Prairie Grove.
There will also be signs on the Historic Cane Hill properties, the 1828 Morrow Homestead in Morrow and other points of interest in the county, according to Maylon Rice, chairman of a National Preservation Month subcommittee for Washington County Historical Society.
“With over 160 historic sites in Washington County, we are starting out with one for every day of the month of May,” Rice said.
The Washington County Historical Society’s Facebook page will feature a different site and photograph of that site, along with “This Place Matters” signs, each day during the month.
“We invite the public to visit these sites and also to take selfies as part of the celebration,” Rice said.
A list of the sites also features bridges, cemeteries, homes, public buildings and structures all over Washington County.
The historical society, in cooperation with the City of Fayetteville, will recognize the Ridge House at 230 W. Center Street in Fayetteville with an 11 a.m. ceremony on Friday, May 20. The Ridge House, owned by the society, is the oldest home in Fayetteville. The house also has some Native American history for a school in the early days of Fayetteville.
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan will speak at the May 20 ceremony and read a proclamation on Preservation Month. Another speaker will be Rebecca Luebker, a descendant of John Ridge, who purchased the house in 1840. Ridge, a leader in the Cherokee Tribe, was assassinated after signing a treaty leading to the removal of the Cherokees from the state of Georgia. Luebker has letters from a relative during the time her ancestors occupied the house in pre-statehood Arkansas, and will read those at the ceremony.
The WCHS has owned the house since the early 1970s; it was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1971.
Every year in May, local preservation groups, state historical societies, business and civic organizations across the country celebrate Preservation Month through events that promote historic places and heritage tourism and that demonstrate the social and economic benefits of historic preservation.
Preservation Month began as National Preservation Week in 1973. In 2005, the National Trust extended the celebration to the entire month of May and declared it Preservation Month to provide an even greater opportunity to celebrate the diverse and unique heritage of our country’s cities and states.
Other spots in Washington County to be featured during May are:
• Headquarters House in Fayetteville.
• Yell Law office in Fayetteville.
• Shiloh Meeting Hall in Springdale.
• Elm Springs Cemetery (older section) in Elm Springs.
• Oak Cemetery in Fayetteville.
• St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Tontitown
• Tontitown School in Tontitown.
• Clinton House in Fayetteville
• Evergreen Cemetery in Fayetteville
• Confederate Cemetery in Fayetteville.
• Southern Mercantile in Prairie Grove
• Son’s Chapel outside Fayetteville
• Mt. Sequoyah Retreat Center Area – Fayetteville
• Walnut Grove Presbyterian Church
• Back Oak Cemetery
• Savoy Community Center
• Rabbit’s Foot Lodge – Springdale
• Stokenbury Cemetery
• Tom Smith House – Elkins
Other sites will be announced during the month of May.
The Washington County Historical Society is a 5-01c3 organization that depends upon its memberships, donations and gifts. The WCHS receives no local tax monies or direct support from city or county governments. WCHS was formed in 1951 and is the oldest continuous county historical society in Arkansas.
The WCHS journal Flashback, issued four times each year, was selected as the winner of the Walter L. Brown Award from the Arkansas Historical Association for the Best County or local Historical Journal for 2021.