Princeton Cemetery, Princeton Arkansas
Princeton Cemetery is located southeast of the town of Princeton. Surveyed and plotted in 1846, Princeton was Dallas County's first seat of government. Extremely prominent among Dallas County's early towns, Princeton lost its economic and social prominence soon after the Civil War. Although the town remained the county seat until 1908, Princeton's most prominent period was the pre-Civil War era.
The Cemetery contains the graves of Princeton's first settlers who played important roles in the formation of the county and the founding of and early development of the town. These individuals include Presley Watts, first Magistrate, Joseph Gray, surveyor of the town, George W. Mallett, sheriff in 1850, and "Saine" Allison Ramsay, skilled builder of the first courthouse. Other than the George W. Mallett House the Princeton Cemetery is the only resource associated with pre-Civil War Princeton and of those many settlers who were important to its development.
Site Description
Princeton Cemetery is located on an unpaved county road southeast of the pre-Civil War town of Princeton. Although there is a stone entry in the northeast corner, the cemetery is not enclosed. This rectangular tract of land is defined, however, by forest on three sides. Within this small open area are approximately three hundred grave markers including rectangular commercial monuments, obelisks, and tablets, the latter being the most common. Oriented east-west, these markers identify the graves of those individuals who have contributed to the development of Princeton since the founding of both it and the county in 1845. Three of those individuals buried were born in the late 18th century. The oldest grave, however, is that of William J. Suggs, 1821-1849.
View from the Northwest (1982)
View from the East (1982)
