Chapter Seven

Annual Decoration of

Cemeteries

  by Glen Johnson

Pages 55-56

Another event, though it cannot he termed amusement, entertainment. nor recreation, was the Annual Decoration of Cemeteries which was a leading social event in earlier days. Decoration Services at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery south of Yellville, at Mountain View Cemetery on Fallen Ash, at Patton Cemetery near Pyatt, Flippin Cemetery at Flippin, at Wild Cat later Fairview - Cemetery north of Flippin, and Promise Land Cemetery east of Oakland drew large crowds. These services were not held on Memorial Day, but rather were held on successive Sundays in May and early June. Though there is no indication of any written agreement as to when each cemetery would be decorated, it appears that it was generally understood that the first Sunday in May would be Decoration Day at a particular cemetery. The following Sunday another cemetery, and the next Sunday another and so until all cemeteries had been decorated. Usually the services began with group singing, followed by a sermon or sermons by local preachers. Then all the graves in the cemetery were decorated with fresh flowers and roses. After the decoration of the graves, a "dinner on the ground" was held. Benches were carried from the building to nearby groves of trees and became the tables on which the food was spread. Food was abundant and no one need go away hungry. Women vied with each other in the preparation of food for this dinner. Fried chicken, country-cured ham, chicken and dressing, vegetables of all kinds, pies, cakes and cookies, each prepared to perfection, constituted the menu.

In an election year, most of the candidates for county offices attended all of these decorations and an aspiring candidate found himself duty-bound to eat a little from each table lest he offend some good lady and lose the vote of the family.

The afternoon was for visiting and renewing acquaintances among the older people; for "sparking" among the younger set; and for playing and fighting among the children.

While Decoration Services are still held at some of the cemeteries, these services are usually brief and few attend. Thus another event is rapidly becoming only a memory shared by a generation that is passing.