The Prairie View Cemetery is a small, rural graveyard north of Prairie Grove, Arkansas. It can be rather difficult to find. We had tried for a very long time to locate this cemetery using old directions and maps. Most of them were wrong. Some directions lead down wrong roads altogether, and others were close, but still, no cemetery could be seen. Thanks to Loyd Luginbuel of Luginbuel Funeral Home in Prairie Grove, we were finally able to obtain correct directions to this cemetery.
Please do not confuse the name of this cemetery with that of the much larger Prairie Grove Cemetery. The Prairie View Cemetery used to be near the old Prairie View School, which is no longer standing. We had been told that this cemetery has been abandoned since the 1960s; however, that is incorrect. There has been a burial there as recently as the year 2000.
The cemetery has just over twenty marked burials. It is currently located on private land owned by Bob Thomas, who was generous enough to not only allow us onto his property, but to also engage us in very informative (and often humorous) conversation. He feels that there are a good number of unmarked graves in this cemetery.
Entries marked with an asterisk (*) indicate persons recorded as being in this cemetery by funeral home or other records, but whose headstones we did not see on this visit.
To reach this cemetery from Fayetteville, Arkansas, take Highway 62 West from Fayetteville to Prairie Grove. After entering Prairie Grove, watch for a turn onto Bush Street, which will be on your right. Follow Bush Street until you reach the intersection of Viney Ridge Road (this is Washington County Road #37; there will be a church near the crossroads). Turn north onto Viney Ridge Road, and keep driving for a few miles. Look on your left for Washington County Road #615. Turn left onto #615, which is a dirt road. After doing so, the cemetery will be immediately to your right, over the crest of a hill, but you probably will not be able to see it from the road. As of this writing, there is a mobile home near the intersection of Viney Ridge Road and County Road #615. The cemetery is right next to the mobile home, located on the yard there. Since this is on private property, please be very respectful of the landowner when visiting this cemetery.
The cemetery is fairly well-kept, and most of the stones were clearly readable.
This cemetery was transcribed January 19, 2007 by Randal and Shannon Seyler. Please write archangel505@yahoo.com with any comments or questions.
* * *
BOWLING, Cleta Mae
January 22, 1940-January 24, 1940
BOWLING, James Brewster
January 28, 1918-March 3, 1918
HOOPER, J.A.
February 2, 1830-February 25, 1871
McNEELY, Alex
1853-1933
McNEELY, James
June 11, 1825-July 3, 1908
McNEELY, Ida Bertha
December 15, 1891-February 23, 1904
McNEELY, Manerva
1855-1940
McNEELY, Ollie B. Chaney
August 3, 1886-April 23, 1912
RHINE, Adam B.
1880-1964
RHINE, Andrew
1921-2000
RHINE, Dorothy Jean*
March 3, 1939-September 22, 1940
RHINE, Elizabeth
April 5, 1880-November 26, 1953
RHINE, Ernest Ugene
1941-1966
RHINE, Esther
1912-1996
RHINE, Isac P.
1866-1940
(note: gravestone says Isac, other sources say Isaac)
RHINE, James Burton
August 31, 1903-August 28, 1905
RHINE, Mary
1906- (no death date)
RHINE, Mary Elizabeth
March 23, 1856-December 23, 1926
RHINE, Walter Jefferson
June 1, 1924-October 13, 1925
WELLS, Gertie D.
September 8, 1914-April 7, 1926
WELLS, W.D.
February 10, 1870-October 19, 1934
WELLS, William. L.
December 31, 1902-July 6, 1905
WINDHAM, Brenda Kay*
August 29, 1954-August 30, 1954
