Fort Smith in Sebastian County, Arkansas — The American South (West South Central)
Oak Cemetery
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 22, 2025
1. Oak Cemetery Marker
Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
Department of Arkansas Heritage
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Cemeteries & Burial Sites. In addition, it is included in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) series list.
Location. 35° 22.17′ N, 94° 24.222′ W. Marker is in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in Sebastian County. It is on South Greenwood Avenue near South N Street, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1401 S Greenwood Ave, Fort Smith AR 72901, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Arkansas River Valley, in the Cherokee Heritage Region, and in Osage Territory. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, the Louisiana Purchase, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Christ the King Catholic Church (approx. 0.3 miles away); Harold Adams Office Building (approx. 0.6 miles away); Immaculate Conception Church in 1906 (approx. 1.3 miles away); First Evangelical Lutheran Church (approx. 1.4 miles away); Texas Corner in 1958 (approx. 1.4 miles away); The New Theatre in 1911 (approx. 1.4 miles away); Fort Towson Trail (approx. 1.4 miles away); Great Cyclone at Fort Smith (approx. 1½ miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Fort Smith.
Regarding Oak Cemetery.
this page online
The origins of the Oak Cemetery appear to have been private, for the first death date (August 6, 1853) precedes by about six years the first record of any portion of this property being purchased for use as a public cemetery (October 3, 1859). Early cemetery deeds refer to this burial ground by a variety of names, though the contemporaneous city death records consistently refer to it as Oak Grove or City Cemetery. Regardless, it is evident that the Oak Cemetery began to serve the city of Ft. Smith as a general burial ground by the late 1850's
Though the Oak Cemetery served as the final resting place for many of Ft. Smith's and western Arkansas's most prominent citizens, it is for its associations with the broadest aspects of this city's rich history that it is most significant. Buried here are early settlers, surveyors, soldiers, ruthless pioneer judges as well as state Supreme Court justices, businessmen, African-American citizens, men who lived well outside the law and the officers of the law who frequently saw them apprehended, tried and sentenced to die. Of all the known historic buildings and sites in the greater Ft. Smith area, it is the Oak Cemetery that is arguably the single site most closely associated with all of these aspects of Ft. Smith's history.
Also see . . .
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 22, 2025
2. Oak Cemetery Marker
Marker is in front of the right gatepost.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 24, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 24, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 98 times since then and 31 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on August 24, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
