Preserving History Yes, I’m a history buff. I can sit and read a history book and enjoy it as if it were a top selling novel. When I was attending the University and took American history, I read the course book before going to the first class. By my sophomore year, it was a toss-up whether I would major in history or geology. I settled on geology because I thought I would be pecking on rocks outdoors. Well, after spending some +40 years as an oil and gas exploration geologist, I have spent two whole days actually in the field with my trusty rock hammer. However, my love of history has sent me to numerous days of tramping through ruins from the jungles of Belize to the Colosseum in Rome. I have strained my wonderful marriage to the point where Vertis has literally yelled, “I’ve seen enough Roman ruins to last two lifetimes!” Over the decades of travel certain pieces of ancient history have remained very clear in my mind, and the mosaics of ancient Carthage, Tunisia are some of the most vivid. We took a long weekend vacation to Tunisia while living in Libya. Of course, I wanted to see the ruins of Ancient Carthage, so we rented a car and soon we were prowling around in the ruins of the ancient city. In the Punic Wars, when the Romans finally defeated Hannibal of Carthage, they leveled the city, plowed the open ground, and poured salt on the plowed ground. The Romans rebuilt part of the city, and a portion of the Roman city has been restored. Later excavations uncovered a large number of floor mosaics, both Roman and from ancient Carthage, and it was obvious that although the columns and walls of the ancient Carthaginian city had been destroyed, most of the floor mosaics were not damaged. That led to an uncovering of vast works of art depicting all aspects of life in the ancient city. During these excavations a group of women from Tunis started an organization to preserve the mosaics, and according to the site material, these women saved some very valuable pieces of history that would have been lost, if they hadn’t intervened. Those mosaics were the highlight of our trip. I guess my love of history has led me to do what I can to preserve the history where I live. We have worked to place a number of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, and the core of Downtown El Dorado is an historic district. However, preserving history is sometimes just keeping a small bit of history alive for the next generation. Of course, most of the time that is nothing like uncovering the mosaics of ancient Carthage, but even small bit of history can add up to give us a better look at the overall history of a place. Recently. I came across a small piece of old Union County history that needs to be restored and protected. Neglect and Mother Nature have put this little piece of history in a precarious situation. This week when I was out on my almost daily walk, I decided to take a little off the beaten path detour, and take a look at a long abandoned old cemetery; the Ingram-Reeves Cemetery. It sits in the woods on a small rise where Calion Road ends at 167 Business. The cemetery is less than 50 yards up a dim, overgrown dirt road. This is probably the old road to Champanolle, the first county seat of Union County. The cemetery is only a few hundred yards from my house. Just guessing, I would say the cemetery is a rectangle about 35 yards wide by 45 yards long, and based on cemetery records from the Internet at least 22 people are buried there. Since the most recent grave is in the 1930s, this cemetery ranks as one of the oldest in Union County. The cemetery is known by the local Preservation Society, which confirms several Civil War soldiers are buried there. The headstones, for the most part are weathered and are illegible, but several have dates of deaths in the mid-1800s. I noted three men who were born in 1826, 1832, and 1810. They died in 1861, 1862, and 1866. I think these are the Civil War Soldiers, and based on these dates, it seems these men were possible the first burials in the cemetery. On headstones that are still readable the Smock, Ingram, and Reeves families are well represented, along with a number of small grave markers without any names. A number of years back a fence surrounded the cemetery, but today the fence is in bad repair, and the cemetery grounds are overgrown with vines and small bushes. The Sons of Confederate Veterans cleaned the cemetery years ago, but it is obvious no one has recently taken care of this little bit of history for a long time. As I stood there looking at the headstones, which were still standing in the weeds, vines, and bushes, the cleaning and protecting this little bit of history crossed my mind. Then as I looked further into the cemetery and came up with some dates, I realized this piece of history was part of the very early life of nearby residents, and probable predated most of the settlement of Union County. El Dorado was founded in 1845, and without a doubt many of the men and women buried here were living in Union County before El Dorado was settled. Naturally, it crossed my mind that a cemetery association should come in and take care of it, but with the small number of old graves, and the condition of the cemetery it was obvious this cemetery isn’t on anybody’s regular cleaning and restoration list. If someone cleans the weeds, vines, and bushes it will be a volunteer. Then it crossed my mind, as I stood there and thought about how the women of Tunis had spearheaded the cleaning and recovery of lost mosaics that a lot of history is preserved by volunteers. I continued to check out names and dates on the gravestones, and it kept crossing my mind, “Somebody needs to clean the weeds and trash out of this cemetery; this is a piece of history. Then after another fifteen minutes of looking around, it crossed my mind again, and then I said out-loud, “Maybe it’s me?” And the more I thought about it, the surer I was, that I was going to be the one who at least would start to clean-up that little cemetery. After all it’s almost in my front yard. So this Sunday the 13th at 2:00, I’ll be there with my trusty, bush cutter, cutting and trimming. Actually, it’s not that big of a job. It’s a small cemetery, and it won’t take long to remove most of the bushes, but if you would like to help, drive out Calion Road till you intersect 167 Business. You will see my red Navigator parked by a dim road. The cemetery is just 50 yards up that road. Be sure and bring something to cut weeds, bushes, and vines.