Love Rest Green Grove Cemetery

Love Rest Green Grove Cemetery. . Green Grove Cemetery got its official beginning when Martin and Minnie Buerkle sold two acres of property to the Trustees of Green Grove Cemetery Association in September of 1903. This cemetery was likely the first burial ground dedicated to serving Stuttgart’s growing African American population. From Arkansas County Courthouse documents, it has been established that two burials took place prior to the sale of the land: Ms. Etta Ellis, born 22 October 1862, died 19 August 1879; and Ms. Hannah Rayford, born 1864, died 4 July 1888. It is believed that the Trustees either sold or gave a portion of the land to businessman and founder of Relerford and Son Funeral Home, Mr. James Wesley Relerford, who was Stuttgart’s first Black mortician. As we have seen, there are death certificates with place of interment Green Grove cemetery and others with place of interment in Love Rest Cemetery. Mr. Relerford himself is interred in Love Rest Cemetery in addition to his son and successor, Mr. Booker Theodore Relerford and several members of the Relerford family. , The Black community has grown to call the cemeteries "Love Rest Green Grove Cemetery,” one cemetery with two locations. Mr. Mack Skinner, Stuttgart's first Black master plumber and first Black elected school board official, is interred in Love Rest Cemetery. Additionally, several members and speakers at the Stuttgart Negro Civic League of the 1960s era are residents of both Green Grove and Love Rest, as are several World War I and World War II veterans. Green Grove hails Professor Leroy Davis Holman, the educator for whom Holman School is named. Viet Nam War veteran PFC Robert Lee Ramsey, Jr., U.S.M.C. is also among its icons. Over time the cemetery footprints became obscured and its early history almost forgotten due to inactivity, as the cemetery had only three plots remaining in it by January 1978. We are dedicated to keeping alive the memories of all whom we hold dear who are resting in Love Rest Green Grove Cemetery.