About Evergreen Cemetery

Evergreen Cemetery is a private, non-profit institution run by the board members of the Fayetteville Evergreen Cemetery Association. Evergreen is located near downtown Fayetteville (click here for a map to the cemetery), and the grounds are open to the public during most day-light hours. The cemetery is closed at night and on certain days throughout the year.

Below is a description of Evergreen in a finding guide to resources at the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections (Manuscript Collection 926):

In the 1840's, the area now occupied by Evergreen Cemetery was part of the John Thomas family farm. It was used as a private burial ground by the Thomas family until 1870, when Washington Lodge Number 1 of the Free and Accepted Masons and Lodge Number 15 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows bought the property for a place of interment for lodge members and for the Fayetteville community in general. The Masons and Odd Fellows owned and managed Evergreen Cemetery until 1915 when they deeded the cemetery to the Evergreen Cemetery Association. Organized in the Spring of 1915 by Mrs. H. L. Pearson, Mrs. J. P. Benson, Mrs. Robert Wilson, and other concerned citizens, the Evergreen Cemetery Association became incorporated as the Fayetteville Evergreen Cemetery Association in 1925. Since 1915, the association has been responsible for the perpetual care of one of the oldest and most cherished cemeteries in Fayetteville.

A brief biography of John Thomas and the beginning of the cemetery is found in The History of Washington County, published by the Washington County Historical Society (in the section on Agnes Thomas Blew, written by Maribelle Blew Williams, pp. 857-858):

John Thomas was born in Kentucky in 1825. His father died when he was only 3 years old. His mother moved the family to Marion County, Missouri, then later to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she bought a farm. The house stood where the railroad depot now stands on Dickson Street. He attended college at Canehill and served in the Mexican War. March 5, 1849, John Thomas married Harriet E. Wilson. When John Thomas' older sister, Milissa Pulliam, died she was buried in the family plot on the farm. This was the beginning of Evergreen Cemetery in Fayetteville. He later sold his farm in Fayetteville and moved to the country. John Thomas worked very hard to improve his farm and gave a portion of the land for a school building in 1870. He, no doubt, with the help of neighbors, built the school building which was known for years as the Thomas School House. John Thomas served on the school board for several years.