Do you remember the water rising?

Buckville - Cedar Glades - White Plains
Montgomery Co. pre 1917 - Garland Co. Arkansas today
Photo Gallery - NW corner of Garland Co.

I've learned....
That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.

Lake Ouachita Descendants fb site

Mountain Township, Montgomery County justice docket 1889-1917. This is from the 1965 Garland County Historical Society "The Record", article abstracted by Inez Cline. 19 pages showing a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Mountain inhabitants.

Rooters trying to find data regarding the north-western area of Garland Co. AR prior to 1917 might try the Montgomery Co. courthouse in Mount Ida.  Montgomery Co., was created in 1842 from Hot Spring County.  In 1873 Garland Co. formed from Montgomery (a portion of Mountain township), Hot Spring and Saline counties. In February 1917 Bear, Cedar Glades, Crystal and remainder of Mountain Township and part of Leverney townships of Montgomery Co., Ark. were annexed to Garland Co.  Garland Co. townships that now have previous Montgomery Co. area include Baxter, Bear, Buckville (formerly Mountain twp.), Cedar Glades, Crystal, Hale, Mill, Mountain and Ouachita townships. Understanding the county's formation makes it easier to locate marriage records, an ancestor on census returns, WW1 military induction and discharge records, land records, etc. 

Mountain Township, Montgomery Co. AR 1850 Federal Census

Today Buckville, Cedar Glades (Harold), Flea Bend (Aultville), Oakwood (Chalybeate Spring), White Plains area now lie under the waters of Lake Ouachita at a depth of about 100 feet. Before the lake was filled and COE Blakely Mountain Dam became operational for flood control in 1953 the government appraisers arrived and the land was purchased by the Arkansas Power and Light from the farmers. Timber was cut and milled, the school of course was torn down as most of the buildings of any substance, families relocated, many nearby, and 600 graves were relocated.  The Buckville Baptist Church was winced � mile to higher ground and many wondered if it would hold together.  New roads were constructed.

AVANT

BUCKVILLE

"Grandfather was born in 1904 in Flea Bend, AR was actually born in Montgomery Co., AR, but raised in Garland, although his family did not move." Deb.

The Buckville Baptist Church 2000 with George Clifton Thornton is standing in front.
It is the only exiting building saved for the flooding of Lake Ouachita in the 1950s.  Photo credit Deb Garner.

"Buckville is a flourishing little town eighteen miles east of Mount Ida, and twenty two miles northeast of Hot Springs.  Many of the solid farmers of the county reside in this locality.  Cotton and corn are the  principal products.  The population is estimated at about 100.  In the event of the electric process becoming an assured success this region will become a great mineral district, as there are inexhaustible mineral deposits here, sand rock predominating.  J.W. Freeman represents the mercantile interest, also having a large cattle ranch; J.W. Martin is the mill man."  The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Western Arkansas. 1891 pg 476  The Buckville Baptist Church moved from its original location, only a short distance from where it is now, in the summer of 1951.  The name Bucktown was branded by Inez Cline back in the 1970s. The people that came to the reunions called themselves Bucktowners and the name stuck and she had the sign you see on the church painted. Probably will this year the sign will be changed to Buckville. 

BUCKTOWN  USA

YE WHO TAKE SHELTER HERE
REMEMBER
THIS IS GOD'S HOUSE 
Trustees
Chuck Thornton    Fred Bucks
Dean Bradley    J.V. Shaw
Bobby Hatmaker    Larry Brown

Deceased Trustees
Albert Bradley
Silas Hatmaker
Vell Hall
Waldo Pool

Last and closing service was Dec. 17, 1950. At the last service they elected a committee to oversee the moving of the church. Last minutes of Buckville Bapt. Church:

Buckville, AR
Dec., 17, 1950

The Buckville Baptist Church was declared in Conference by Jeff Bradley. Bro. Anderson was elected moderator for conference. Minutes of past conference were read and adopted. The church voted to send the remainder of Sunday School fund and collection of Dec. 17 to Orphanage. The church elected a committee to oversea the moving of church, namely Jeff Bradley, Loyd Chapmond, Vander Bradley and Manuel Bradley. The same committee was elected as finance committee. A motion was adopted to use money received for church property to move church building to the Cemetery and also for improvements on building, then remainder of money to be used on scholarship for some preacher selected by Committee. A motion was made and carried to grant letters to all members for the church to be written when requested.
Alva Bradley was elected church clerk.
Conference adjourned.

Bro. Joe Anderson, Moderator
Alva Bradley, Church Clerk

The oldest list of membership can be found Wendy Richter book THEY CAN'T GO HOME. The second session of the Buckville Association is dated 10-10-1891. An exact date of the building is not known, it was in existence prior to 1890. This was the year that Buckville Baptist Association was organized at the Mt. Tabor Church and was made up of nine churches. Buckville, Bethel, Cedar Glades, Concord, Mt. Tabor, White Plains, Rock Springs, New Prospect and Second Church of Hot Springs. John W. Freeman deeded on 5 October 1895 to the Missionary Baptist Church, land in Buckville. Book J, page 312, location 17-1-26. Church minute records only exist form 1939-1950

Caddo River Baptist Association exacts
Sept 1885: Church: Buckville. Pastor: N. H. Harley. Clerk: J. W. Marton.
1887 Ordained Ministers: N. H. Harley of Bear. J. T. Eaves of Buckville. E. P. Chitwood of Crystal Springs.
1890 Church: Prairie Grove, Pastor: E. P. Chitwood, Clerk: S. H. Valandingham, Messenger: S. H. Valandingham of Buckville.

In February 2001 on PPS "Precious Memories: Our Vanishing Rural Churches" featured profiles rural Arkansas' historic churches - some that have closed and some with dwindling congregations. "On a quiet roadside in the country, an old church crumbles with the passing seasons....

Precious Memories on the Buckville Baptist Church

"A motor on Lake Ouachita might notice off in the distance an old country church and cemetery.  The Buckville Baptist Church sits alone and empty on a hilltop and it is all that remains of a town that disappeared for Buckville now lies under the lake.

Buckville was once a bustling town.  Around the turn of the century government engineers proposed a dam to create a large lake and bring electric power to the people of the region. Buckville was in the area to be flooded. In the 30s, 40s, and 50s, they had to watch as their homes, the businesses, their schools, and their churches were all torn down in the course of the lake.  The cemeteries where their loved ones were buried were picked up and moved to other locations.

Former members of the Buckville Baptist Church raised the money to move the church to a hilltop where it would be safe from the rising waters.  Since 1951 it has been there and one day each summer the Bucktowners return. At the homecoming each year, which is held the second Sunday in June, people gather and visit with all the folks they may not have not seen for a year or even twenty years or thirty years.  This reunion, this home coming, is the closest that they can come to the area they once knew in their younger years, the place were they grew up, the place were their ancestors lived. The church the cemetery are the last remaining tangible places that they can visit to re live those younger years and to visit with those that they have known for so so long.

The homecoming is a time of sharing and remembering.  Old friendships are rekindled new members of the family are introduced to older generations. The country tradition of dinner on the ground is revived as families gather for the afternoon meal. It is a southern tradition - a like to get together that I don't think we have out grown we still want to get together to eat and sing and do all those things that hold us together as a group.

A lot of churches that have homecoming may not have services anymore and that might be the only church function that the only time of year that people come into that church. There is a fear that if we don't get together once a year there won't be any more church here, there won't be any more ties to this particular place so there is a sense which the people who do those homecomings are very much afraid that if they didn't do that that part of their heritage is gone forever. There are so many people here, so many people with ties to this area  I hope that it will survive and  I hope that people will come each year and continue to come and participate in this homecoming."

Church last remnant of inundated Arkansas town

By Rodney Bowers
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette  1995

BUCKVILLE, Ark. - What may be Buckville's last building project passed almost unnoticed. Only 77-year-old Pauline Pitts was on hand Aug. 2 when carpenters finished re-roofing the town church. Buckville, you see, is all but a memory.

No one has been born in the Garland County community in more than 40 years. Its 150 to 200 living residents have all moved away. Like the mythical city of Atlantis, Buckville now lies beneath the waves. Lake Ouachita covers its once prosperous business district. Only the old Buckville Southern Baptist Church, which was moved to high ground, stands as a reminder of what was here. Once a year, it is where those who lived in Buckville come for a homecoming.

Pitts decided to have the church roof replaced after attending this year's homecoming June 11. It rained that day - the first time in memory that had happened. She and the other 350 people in attendance noticed water seeping through the metal roof, which appeared ready to collapse, she said. She took action after the reunion. "I called all the ones I could think of who have loved ones buried in the cemetery and asked for donations,"she said. Her efforts secured $3 ,000 and helped save, at least temporarily, Buckville's last landmark.

The town never supported more than 400 residents at one time. It slipped from sight in the early 1950s when the Army Corps of Engineers filled Lake Ouachita. Inez Cline, a Buckville native and spokesman for the Garland County Historical Society, said the farming community grew up in the mid-1800s along the sluggish Ouachita River. The 1850 Census listed 72 households. The town apparently took its name from P.A. Buck, one of its first settlers and a general-store owner. The community began to thrive with the arrival of a post office in 1884. "At one time," Cline said, "Buckville supported five doctors, including my great-grandfather. He came from Georgia in 1884."

The town eventually had three general stores, a hotel, a sawmill and grist mill, and even a telephone company, she said. Records show the Brown Telephone Co. had 21 shareholders in 1920, each of whom paid $3 .20 for part-ownership.

Cline also noted that Buckville played a major role in the formation of two present-day counties. The town and its surrounding area belonged to Montgomery County until 1917, when officials moved the county line to bring Buckville into Garland County. Area residents found it easier to do business in Hot Springs, Cline said. "The people had to cross the river four or five times" to get to Mount Ida , the Montgomery County seat, she said.

The beginning of the end came in the early 1930s, when Arkansas Power and Light Co. began buying land along the river. Cline said company officials told the residents that they would have to relocate because of a proposed dam, but no one believed it would be built. That changed, however, when the federal government took over the Blakely Mountain Dam project in 1944. It also prompted Buckville to save its church, which had doubled as a schoolhouse until around 1920.

Cline said the townspeople placed pine logs under the 192-square-foot building and hooked it to a logging truck borrowed from Gene Parson, who was off fighting the war. They rolled the church about a quarter-mile to the north side of the cemetery, where it sits today, at the end of Buckville Road.  Officials completed the $31 million dam in 1953. Lake Ouachita soon covered the town, including the old church site.  Cline said the congregation disbanded about that time, and former residents created the Buckville Association to coordinate the annual reunions. Cline, who serves as the group's treasurer, credits the association with the continued preservation of the church, which has received aluminum siding and other improvements in recent years.

But the recent roofing job could be the last such work, particularly if it preserves the building beyond the years of its aging former congregation. The association loses more members each year, Pitts said. "I went to a funeral up there Tuesday for Mrs. (Johnny) Chitwood," Pitts said. "She was 91."  
Reference: Houston Chronicle  Sunday 9/24/95 Section: A  Page: 44

CEDAR GLADES

The Cedar Glades Post Office was originally established as Harold Post Office on Feb. 3, 1835. The name was officially changed to Cedar Glades Post Office on March 26, 1883.  When Garland Co. was formed in 1873 from Hot Spring and Montgomery Counties, the sheriff of Montgomery Co. was a citizen of Cedar Glades. The new county line was placed so that the Sheriff, George H. Speer could continue to reside on his home place, southeast of Cedar Glades. The townships of Cedar Glades and Buckville, north of the Ouachita River, and Bear and Crystal Townships, south of the river remained a part of Montgomery Co. until 1917. A strong demand by the people living in this area resulted in a bill being introduced in the legislature by Sonny Davis, from Garland County to transfer these townships into Garland County.  The bill became law and Cedar Glades, Buckville, Bear and Crystal Townships then became a part of Garland County. When this area was part of Montgomery Co., it was necessary, in order to travel to Mount Ida, the county seat, to cross the North Fork of the Ouachita River, the River itself, and the South Fork of the Ouachita, a total of nine times for citizens living on the north side, as there were no bridges spanning these streams. In the winter season, these streams were often swollen by wintry rains, making it almost impossible to cross.  Source: "They Can't Go Home" 

Speer Brothers, A.J. Cotnam and William Ray merchants, Robert J. Housley, mill man, B.F. Carrollton cabinet maker, Sharp & Boone, general blacksmith and woodworkers, John Martin attended the Cedar Glades School.  Population 250 in 1891. 22 miles east of Mt. Ida, and 20 miles northwest of Hot Springs and is surrounded by a good farming county. There is a good school house here.Reference: Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Western AR. 1891

WHITE PLAINS

White Plains a small community, about a mile west of Buckville, was made up of farmers that owned land along the Ouachita River and North Fork of the river had only one building for church and school. Mail was delivered along the road leading from Buckville to Story with each family having a mailbox. We all had wells for water, burned wood for heat and cooking, kerosene lamps for light, and outside privy. Washed on the rub board and boiled in the large wash pot. We could walk to visit several of the neighbors. White Plains school students began going to Buckville when I was in about the fourth grade. They used a covered truck for a bus. PB finished ninth grade at Buckville then stayed away from home with friends in Hot Springs and finished High School. Began teaching at Blakely camp before the water began to cover the area. This was in the fall of 1937. Did her college at Ouachita and Henderson teaching and going to school in summer, correspondence, Sat. classes, and anyway could earn an hour of college credit. Spent 40 years teaching, married and raised two successful children. Retired in l981 and have been busy doing church work and helping people that need help since. Her parents had their house torn down at White Plains and moved down on the Mt. Pine Rd. not far from Harvey's Chapel Church. Info courtesy of PP. Posted 10 April 2001

Population of civil township 1910 Census Garland:
Bear twp                144
Buckville twp       669
Cedar Glades twp 374
Crystal twp             65

Post Offices in the area:

The Cedar Glades Post Office was originally established as Harold Post Office on Feb. 3, 1835. The office was discontinued as of July 6, 1866 but re-established Jan 14, 1867. The name was officially changed to Cedar Glades Post Office on March 26, 1883. Since the residents of the area had moved away during the construction of Blakely Dam, there was not enough mail to warrant the existence of the Cedar Glades Post Office. It was officially closed Aug 31, 1953. The mail then went to Mountain Pine.

The Buckville Post Office was established Mar. 3 1887 by Henry Hardin WILLIAMSON. Arra (McKelroy) Dailey and her husband George ran a store and was postmaster at Buckville. Roe Bradley was postmaster. His son After the - Jeff Bradley (owned the local grocery) was the last postmaster and resigned Jan. 25 1951. The post office was moved to Avant. Jeff's father had been postmaster before him. The Buckville Post Office is now a "Community Post Office" of Hot Springs.

The Avant Post Office was established Dec. 11 1905 with Ella C. Vanderslice as postmaster. John W. Avant was appointed August 8, 1913, followed by George W. Dailey, who was appointed January 28, 1928. Dailey died November 11, 1935. Wm. D. "Dret" Hill took over January 22, 1936. The office was closed Dec. 28 1937 with the mail going to Buckville Jan 15 1938.

The Norfolk Post Office was established Nov. 20 1882. Norfolk was somewhere near the North Fork of the Ouachita River in an area that remained in Montgomery County after the line change of 1917. The Post Office was discontinued Oct. 21 1884 with the mail going to Buckville.

The Muse Post Office was established July 20 1898 and discontinued Apr. 30 1914 with the mail going to Cedar Glades

The Lena Post Office was established Feb. 9 1906 and discontinued Mar. 31 1915 with the mail going to Cedar Glades

Reference: 'They Can't Go Home'

Lodges

Buckville had Oddfellows Lodge #293 and a Henderson Lodge No. 147 of the A.F. & A.M
The town of Harold had a Masonic Lodge as early as 1860. Bartholomew A. AULT was a member of a Masonic Lodge, Postmaster at Cedar Glades and 1900 Census taker for Mountain township. He was born 27 Apr. 1867 in Cedar Glades, Montgomery Co. AR and d. 24 Jul. 1948 in Garland Co. Married Annie B. Thornton age 18, on 3 Jan 1889 in Cedar Glades. Recorded in Marriage Book B page 374 at the Montgomery Co. Courthouse in Mt Ida.

Schools

The largest schools were in Buckville, Cedar Glades and Avant.  The Cedar Glades school's first location was about � mile from the main road to Mt. Ida, north of Cedar Glades on the old O.M. Blocker farm. The second site was about � mile east of Cedar Glades. All points are now under Lake Ouachita. In the 1920s the Buckville church served at both church and school housing grades one through eight.  Most would go on to graduate from Mt. Pine or Mt. Ida. In the later years there was a two-room school building that was used until it was torn down for the dam.

Some of the teachers at Buckville were:

Ina Austin Junious Austin Darrell Baker   J. T. Barnes Fannie Beam J. M. Blakely Alva Shaw Bradley Ethel Bradley Ludie Bradley Bill Brown ____Burgess Tom Burton Ebbie Chitwood M. V. Cobb

Julie Coleman Bernice Harper Florence Harper Lucille Simpson Housley Rosie Housely John L. McConnell Sam McConnell Robert Melton Mearl Meredith Pearl Austin Ina Miller Wallace Miller C. C. Montgomery Katie Neal

Mr. Pearson Will Pittman Jim Pitts Pauline Brown Pitts  Grady Qualls Alpha Rowland - higher grades 1916 Flora Scrimshire Custer Smith W. T. Smith James (Jimmie) Wm Stachey - also taught at Avant & C. Glades Mr. Stewart Tom Sullivan Mr. Westfall Ruby Talley Wilson Henry Young

Buckville information courtesy of Debra Garner.

"They Can't Go Home", Chapter 8 is titled 'The Schools' includes nine photos and fourteen pages begins with a map of  "Schools and their approximate location"
The number refers to the old Montgomery County School Districts in Garland Co. since 1917. Only six are mentioned in the chapter.
1. Buckville - yes, including 4 pictures dated 1910; 1921/22; 1921, no date on 1 photo.
2. Cedar Glades - write up with 1 photo "before 1900"
8. Crystal Springs - no write up
22. Hickory Grove  Variant Name: Chalybeate School Now under Lake Ouachita.
51. White Plains - yes, write up and 1 photo of students "about 1913"
52. Bear - no write up
53. Avant - write up only
60. Ault - also known as Pleasant Valley (2 photos: one of school and 1 of students 1938/39)
63. Little Georgia - write up only
79. McKelroy - also called 'Who'd-a-Thought-It' write up only
Other schools listed in the book are:

Blakely Burnt Cedar Brake Cedar View Flea Bend

Lay/Muse (1 photo) Mill Creek Sixteenth Section Walnut Grove

Links

Buckville Homecoming and Buckville Cem. Association website hosted by Karen Meredith
Buckville Cemetery

June 11, 2000 Town lies underneath a lake, but arises each year in memory
Sentinel-Record's 7 June 1999 Bucktowners ready for annual gathering

Torbett's Co. Hardy's Arkansas Inf. Reg. CSA
Cadwell - Northerner sympathizers

Garland Co. Cemeteries
Cemetery Records Online Garland Co.

Corps of Engineer Buckville Recreation Area in Garland County, AR on the north shore of the 40,000 acre man-made Lake Ouachita, the largest lake in Arkansas. Just around the bend by water from the Buckville cemetery or just a few miles. Open all year. Six tent/ RV sites with no hookups, vault toilets, boat ramp, water and beach. Driving direction: Go 10 miles northeast of Hot Springs on State 7, then west for 18 miles on State 298, then 7 miles south on Buckville Rd.

Wavelite map more wavelite
Minerals & Mines in Montgomery County, AR.

Death Notices

Montgomery County News   Feb 11, 1988   
Samuel David ANDERSON
Samuel David Anderson, 79, died February 1, in a Little Rock hospital.   He was born March 20, 1908 in Montgomery County, and had resided in Garland County the past 44 years. He was a member of First Church of Nazarene in Hot Springs.  He was retired from Arkansas Power and Light Company in Hot Springs, and was a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 419 F&AM.  Survivors include his wife, Mazie V. Anderson of Hot Springs; one son, Bobby Wayne Anderson of Hot Springs; one daughter, Ada ...; two brothers: Rev. Jody Anderson of Sims and Leo Anderson of Riddle, Oregon; one sister, Lida Summit of Mount Ida; four grandsons; three granddaughters.  One son, Delton Anderson of Bryant, preceded him in death.  Funeral service was held Thursday in the First Church of Nazarene in Hot Springs with Rev. Harley Patterson officiating.  Pallbearers were nephews.  Burial was in the Reed Cemetery at Story under the direction of Caruth Funeral Home of Hot Springs.

Montgomery County News   Sept 2, 1993
Bertha BALLEW, 65, of Buckville, died August 30, 1993 in Little Rock. Survivors include one brother, John W. Smith of Story, two sisters, Pauline Harvey of Aly and Jessie B. Gwinnup of Marysville, CA and several nieces, nephews and friends.  Services will be held September 2 at 11:00 at Reed Community Church. Burial will be at the Oak Wood Cemetery under the direction of the Thornton Funeral Home

Montgomery County News  Feb 11, 1999
Wras W. BLOCKER
Wras W. Blocker, 74, of Hot Springs, SR, died Monday, February 1, 1999, in a hospital there. Born August 14, 1924, at Cedar Glades, AR, he retired from the U.S. Forest Service research department, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Episcopalian. He was predeceased by his parents, Andy J, and Drucillar M. Blocker, and one son, Douglas Blocker. Survivors include..., Services were at 1:pm on Friday, February 5, 1999, at Hot Springs Funeral Home Chapel with Brother Curtis Sillwell officiating. Burial was 3:00 pm at Reed Cemetery in Story on that day.

Montgomery County News  May 6, 1999
Inez E. CLINE
Inez E. Cline, 75, of Hot Springs, AR, died after a long illness on May 2, 1999.  She was born December 1, 1923, in Possum Kingdom, AR, the daughter of the late Floyd Halsell and Sadie Hall (Mrs Joe Byers) of Dardanelle, AR.  She graduated from Hot Springs High School in 1942.  She was predeceased by her husband, Frank Cline. Survivors include her one son...; one daughter N. Minton...

Mrs Cline had been interested in history and genealogy since her early teens.  This led her to become a chapter member of the Historical Society of Hot Springs in 1960.   Her work in the area of genealogy led her to organizing the Melting Pot Genealogical Society in 1976.  She taught the subject at Garland County Community College and published newspaper columns in Hot Springs as well as hosting a talk radio show on it. She and an associate copied every tombstone in Garland County and co-published three volumes about them.  Funeral arrangements Tuesday, May 4, 1999, at Caruth-Hale Funeral Home Chapel in Hot Springs with Dr. Craig Price officiating.  Burial was at Greenwood Cemetery..... 

March 18 1988 Mrs. Ollie Thompson COOPER, aged 85, of Little Rock, formerly of Hot Springs, died Wednesday. She was a Baptist. She was born at Buckville (Garland County), a daughter of John Cooper.

Susan V. Cottonon, 71, born in Georgia died 22 May 1916 from general congestion according to Dr. A.D. Shaw. She was a housewife and married. Burial was at the Cedar Glades-Muse Cemetery. Undertaker: B. Gross.

Crockett GOLDEN, born in Arkansas, died July 26 1902, age 17, died from maleria which he had for several weeks, according to Dr. W.H. Barry. Burial was at the Cedar Glades Cemetery. Undertaker: Bentz & B. of Hot Springs.

Mrs Sarah HOUSLEY, Buckville, AR age 28, born 31 August 1905 from acute intestinal obstruction diagnosed by Dr. P.H. Burton. Sarah, a housewife, was buried at the Buckville Cemetery with James B. McCaffrey of Hot Springs the undertaker.

Albany Democrat Albany, Oregon
Velma E. HOWTON Aug. 28, 1911 - March 20, 1999
Velma E. Howton, 87, of Albany died Saturday at Timberview Care Center. She was born on the family homestead at Cedar Glades, near Hot Springs, Ark., to Ernest and May (Hall) Ryan. She married James Kinsey in January 1929 in Alamo, Ark., and they lived in California during World War II and in Arkansas and Kansas before moving to Oregon in 1950. She moved to her Albany home in 1953. Mr. Kinsey died in 1956. She married Frank Howton May 2, 1959, in Piney, Ark., and they lived in Albany. Mr. Howton died Jan. 17, 1990. She was a member of the North Albany Baptist Church and enjoyed attending Bible classes with friends. Surviving are son...; daughter ...; brother ...; and 10 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren. Brother Clifford Ryan and sister Lillian Powell died earlier. Mrs. Howton's funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at North Albany Baptist Church, followed by burial at Willamette Memorial Park.

Times Record News Wachita Falls, TX Falls May, 1999
Earl Vernon POWELL
IOWA PARK – Earl Vernon Powell, 78, of Iowa Park died Friday, April 30, 1999, in Iowa Park. Graveside services were at 2 p.m. Monday in Peak Cemetery of Myer Creek, Ark., with the Rev. David Birdsong officiating. Local arrangements are under the direction of Dutton Funeral Home of Iowa Park. Arrangements in Arkansas are under the direction of Thornton Funeral home of Mount Ida, Ark. Mr. Powell was born Feb. 5, 1921, in Cedar Glades, Ark. He was a timber worker with Pope Talbot Lumber Company. He moved to Iowa Park seven years ago from Oakridge, Ore. Survivors include a daughter, ...; three sisters, ..; a brother, Ray ; ....

Sarah Gladys Pratt: d. Feb. 21 2002. Parents: James WIlliam Shipman and Martha Boyd.

Montgomery County News   Nov. 5 1987
Mrs. Anna Dell TALLEY, 86, of Mount Ida died Monday, October 26 in the Montgomery County County Nursing Home.  She was born December 28, 1900 at Buckville, to the late Ely Robbins and Ella Pemberton Robbins.  She has been a resident of this area most of her life, was a homemaker and a Baptist. Survivors include one son, Paul Talley of Mount Ida; two daughters: Mary Ann Dorn of Columbia, SC and Rose Attwood of Louisville, KY; one brother, Wile Robins of Kirby; two sisters Erine Blocker of Malvern and Alva McElroy of St. Joe, ID; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Graveside services were conducted Wednesday, October 28 at 10 a.m. in the Crystal Springs Cemetery with Rev. Don Jones officiating. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Thornton Funeral Service of Mount Ida.

F.H. THROWER single, sawfitter, died October 24 1915, age 30, from mastitis according to Dr. J.S. Wood. Burial was in the Buckville Cemetery. Undertaker: McCafferty.

Nora E. WILLIAMSON died November 12 1907, age 18, from tuberculosis according to Dr. A.D. Shaw. Burial was at the Cedar Glades Cemetery. Undertaker: Bernard Gross of Hot Springs.

Genealogies

Breshears     Breshears
Golden
Redwine

Suggested Reading

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette 2 July 2006
By Jack Schnedler

What passes for progress rarely takes place without some disruption along the way. Beneath the waters of Lake Ouachita rests the remnant evidence - a stone foundation here, a rotted fence row there - of a homespun way of life inundated when Blakely Mountain Dam created Arkansas' largest artificial body of water a half century ago. These "Lost Communities of the Upper Ouachita River Valley" will be revisited Wednesday at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies' monthly Legacies and Lunch series. Presenting the program will be Arkansas History Commission Director Wendy Richter, whose grandparents and parents were among the hundreds of residents uprooted to make way for what is now one of the state's most popular recreational lakes. "This is a nuanced story, about loss and also progress," says Richter, co-author with Inez Cline of the 1990 book They Can't Go Home, about the displaced communities of Buckville and Cedar Glades along with surrounding farmsteads. "It is ironic that the progress most of these people welcomed would also eliminate their homes." Cedar Glades had been settled before the Civil War and Buckville a couple of decades later. The surrounding countryside, west of Hot Springs along the Ouachita River in Garland and Montgomery counties, "was typical of rural upland Arkansas in the first half of the 20th century," says Richter.

"These people were isolated," she adds. "Modernization never really reached them, even by the time of the dam's construction at the start of the 1950s. No paved roads reached the area. There wasn't any sort of water or sewer system. The only electricity came from a small battery-operated system, and there was a small local phone company." Richter describes the area as "a somewhat self-contained world." Buckville and Cedar Glades had Baptist churches, while Buckville boasted its own one-room school. There were country stores in both towns. But for major shopping, "folks would go to Hot Springs [35 or 40 miles to the east] or possibly to Mount Ida [30 or 35 miles west]. A trip to shop was an expedition. You'd go to Hot Springs and shop, maybe spend the night and head back home the next day." Rumors of possible displacement began in the 1920s when Arkansas Power & Light created Lake Catherine southeast of Hot Springs by building Remmel Dam for flood control on the Ouachita River. In 1932, AP&L completed Carpenter Dam and filled Lake Hamilton to the west of Lake Catherine. The company's construction of what would eventually be Blakely Mountain Dam was thwarted by the Great Depression, but the plan became well known around Buckville and Cedar Glades Many of the 500 or more residents who'd eventually lose their homes in Garland and Montgomery counties "saw this as an opportunity," Richter says. "The whole AP&L process of planning and building dams on the Upper Ouachita was equated with progress and modernization."

GRADUAL DEPOPULATION
As the power company acquired more and more land in the 1930s, residents began to leave. Richter's grandparents moved in 1939, and her parents resettled near Jessieville to the northeast after her father's return from World War II. "I think people equated the damming with progress even though it would eliminate their homes," says Richter. "People could sell their homes and land for a reasonable price. They often welcomed the opportunity to escape that very difficult lifestyle of farming on hilly and rocky terrain. It was a chance to sell out and find an easier way to make a living, maybe working in Hot Springs." Blakely Mountain Dam eventually was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which acquired the land AP&L had purchased over the years. Many affected residents had left by 1950, when the dam's construction got under way in earnest. Homes and other structures that would be covered by the future Lake Ouachita were torn down and materials salvaged. But a single building was saved. Members of Buckville Baptist Church held a final service on Dec. 17, 1950, before moving the frame structure above the impending shoreline the following June. "Folks moved their church themselves, hauling it up the hill on log rollers," Richter says. "They wanted to save something from the community." The church sits at what was once the back side of its cemetery, within view of the lake. Fifty-five years after its relocation, Buckville Baptist Church remains what Richter calls "the focal point for the memory of these people whose community was lost. This is the only visible reminder they have of a former life." Starting in 1939, when residents were already moving but well before Lake Ouachita was filled, the congregation held an annual day-long gathering the second Sunday in June. It continues, year after year, with attendance still adding up to a couple of hundred former inhabitants and their families ranging in age from the 80s and 90s to infants. "Originally the purpose was to clean the cemetery and decorate the graves," says Richter. "Some people call it a decoration, some call it a reunion, some call it a homecoming."

PLANS TO ATTEND Having missed this year's event for the first time in two decades, she has definite plans to attend in 2007.
"Most of us have a sense of place, an attachment to where we grew up," she says. "These people can't go back to where they grew up. It has to exist in their hearts and minds. The church and the cemetery substitute as home for them." Having attended the get-togethers as a child, Richter remembers that "my father or mother would point out across the lake and tell me, `We used to live there.' It always fascinated me that people once could have lived where the water is now." The early reunions, she remembers, involved "singing all day in the church. Most of those attending would come into the church at some point and participate. Today there's no singing, and no formal service. This is the only event the building regularly hosts." These days the focus "has turned to dinner on the grounds at noontime. Everybody brings dishes. But that, too, is changing, as you see more and more things like KFC and Subway instead of homemade dishes." Noting that reunion numbers are declining with the passing of years, Richter observes that "the older people get, the more they want others to remember. People talk a lot about what life was like before the lake. They remember the hard times, but they also remember those hard times with fondness. They remember their families and friends." That human element, she says, "is the part of the story that always seems to be lacking in accounts of all the dams in Arkansas and the lakes they created. There's plenty written about the politics and the economics, but very little about the people who were directly affected."

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They Can't Go Home: A History of Northwestern Garland County, Arkansas, including the Towns of Buckville and Cedar Glades by Wendy Bradley Richter and Inez Halsell Cline. Published 1990. Sold out June 2001, but Wendy had the book reprinted in 2003. The price has gone up to $37.50 plus $2.50 shipping, if mailed.  The cost of printing is much higher than it was 13 years ago. You can contact Wendy at Arkansas History Commission & State Archives.

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The Record, Garland County Historical Society publication:
1964 White Plains
1967 - 8:34 Recollections of Buckville. photos, Silas Hatmaker, Buckville Clubs and Associations--Buckville--1877-1914
Registers of Births, Marriages, Deaths, Etc.
1968 9:22- Cedar Glades, Arkansas (memories of customs, events and history which transpired in post years). Illustration photo, Cedar Glades Registers of Births, Marriages, Deaths, Etc., --Ceader Glades Social Conditions
1972 Memories of Possum Kingdom by Robert Lee Blocker. 6 pages with photographs.
1975 -16:86 - Buckville and Cedar Glades Townships with 1880 census, text, maps and photographs including a school class photo of White Plains School children 1913-1914 all named.  Buckville Township history
1976 Crystal Springs and Bear Townships with 1880 census, text, maps and photographs. 

1890 census "reconstruction"  for Garland and Montgomery counties, Arkansas / compiled by Inez Halsell Cline, Bobbie Jones McLane, Wendy Bradley Richter. Hot Springs, AR., 1985. Records used: 1887 City Directory, 1888 Ark. Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1892 Voters List, Marriage and tombstone records 1887 through 1892. Includes 1890 tax receipt book for Montgomery Co.

Montgomery County:Our Heritage Covers the nine schools that became Garland County concerns due to the county boundary changing in 1917 schools and the histories of the communities. Use index in Vol. 2. Write ups:
Barholomew Arthur Ault with photo pgs 3& 4
Moses Marshall Avant page 4. 

1900 Business Directory AR State Directory

Buckville Lodge No. 293 I.O.O.F. Buckville, Montgomery County, Arkansas
Lodge instituted July 23, 1904, Buckvile, Montgomery County, Arkansas
Chartered October 1904
Consolidated with Cedar Glades Lodge 409 Jan. 1, 1918
Lodge # changed to Cedar Glades #293
Charter surrendered Feb. 14, 1921
J. W. Mahaffey
O.H. Mahaffey, (Orin?)
H. J. Mahaffey (Hoy Jackson)

Buckville isn't with us anymore-but its people are - Arkansas Gazette p.4E July 28, 1963

Montgomery County ArkansasGenWeb