Romance Cemetery
Romance, AR
There are no pictures of this cemetery currently available.
This Cemetery is also known as: None Known
GPS Location: 586628 - 3899845
Arkansas Archeological Survey site #: 3WH0675
Number of Marked Graves: About 875
Number of Unmarked Graves: Unknown
The last complete survey of this cemetery was: 2002 Leroy Blair
There has been Obituaries that were printed in the newspaper posted since the last survey was made.
Current status of cemetery: Active
Point of contact for cemetery. . Georgia Rogers – 501-556-5405
At one time, Romance was a thriving little trade center with several stores, a cotton gin and other businesses. Today, the old
buildings are gone or abandoned. Modern churches are nearby, a Masonic Lodge and a couple of antique stores on Highway 5.
Kentucky pioneers settled in this area before the Civil War and the area was called Kentucky Valley. In 1884, a petition for a post
office was approved but a name other than Kentucky Valley was required. According to local belief, J.J. Waters, a schoolteacher,
was asked by fellow citizens to select a name. He chose Romance, explaining that the surrounding area seemed romantic to him.
Romance Cemetery was first listed in 1969 by the Romance Homemaker's Extension Club. The number of unmarked graves was
not listed. The aging list was updated by a team that worked on the project from May through October 2000. Involved were Wilma
Saunders of Romance and her daughter Carol Witt of Judsonia and Carol's daughters Amber Witt and Angela Witt. The Witts had
worked the year before on a similar project at Evergreen Cemetery in Judsonia. Romance Cemetery is located on Highway 31
about a mile east of the junction with Highway 5. It is beside the Romance Church of Christ and across the highway from the post
office which was built in 1989. The old post office /store is now abandoned. The 2000 team reported the cemetery "appears to be
well cared for." They found 181 graves marked with small stones painted white or other rocks. This list was updated by Leroy Blair
of the White County Historical Society after he visited the cemetery September 11 and 12, 2001, then again in late 2002. He was
unable to find the following graves which were on the original list: Viola S. Baird, William Borden, Benjamin Butler, Sampson
Chamblee, Copeland, Estella Davis, C.L.G., Tommie C. Gill, James F. Gray, A.M. Gross, A.W. Gross, W.H. Gross, Herbert Healy, W.W.
Hinson, A.H. Hooks, T.H. Hooks, Rhonda Johnson, Pearl Moses, Tillman McCandless, Orville Lee Newman, Bryon Pence, T. Potter,