Annual Camden history event introduces ghosts to lineup

CAMDEN — Cemetery Walk, an annual event that features portrayals of historical figures who were buried in Oakland Cemetery, will have an added element this year: ghosts.

“We have never had ghosts before, but they seem to be out and about now,” Glendle Griggs joked at a recent Camden Kiwanis Club meeting, one of the places where she is promoting the event. “We are adding ghosts this year.”

Ralph and Glendle Griggs spoke at the meeting about the upcoming event at the cemetery on Maul Road. The event is held annually on the third Friday and Saturday of October. This year, the event will be held from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The Cemetery Walk, in operation for 14 years at the Oakland Cemetery, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, mixes education with fun and is meant for the entire family.

The Griggses said the characters will range from William Chadwell, a successful merchant and well-known man in the 1850s who died suddenly, to Samuel Q. Sevier, the grandson of the first governor of Tennessee who served as the mayor in Camden and as Ouachita County sheriff, and who once shot someone in a fight.

Ralph Griggs shared how he became involved with the Cemetery Walk. He said he moved to Camden in the 1970s, and though he was raised in eastern Arkansas, he discovered he had relatives buried at Oakland Cemetery.