Cemeteries in Arkansas (State)

Arkansas, admitted to the United States in 1836 as the 25th state, was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples including the Quapaw, Osage, and Caddo.

The area became part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and was later organized as a U.S. territory. Early European American settlers, primarily from the southern states, established cotton plantations in the fertile Delta region using enslaved African labor. Following the Civil War, Arkansas underwent Reconstruction and transitioned into a more diversified economy. The state has long been home to a mix of ethnic and religious communities, including African American, Irish, German, and Jewish populations, with more recent Latino and Marshallese immigration.

Arkansas cemeteries reflect this diversity, ranging from rural church graveyards and historic family plots to Catholic, Jewish, African American, and military cemeteries such as Little Rock National Cemetery, each preserving the stories of generations who shaped the state’s complex and evolving identity.