Pioneer Cemetery

Established at the founding of Washington in 1824, the Pioneer Cemetery is where most of the town's earliest settlers are buried, including the unmarked grave of James Black, the man who forged Jim Bowie's famous knife. Around circa 1860, a new cemetery was established named the Presbyterian Cemetery, located just north of town on present-day U.S. Hwy 278.

The Pioneer Cemetery was established around the same time as the town's founding in 1824. The town of Washington was named after George Washington, first president of the United States of America. Some of the graves in the cemetery are veterans of the American Revolution. Plots were added to the grounds until 1860, when a newer cemetery was dedicated on the north end of town on what is now the main highway to Nashville.

One of the first grave plots at the entrance is that of Dr. Isaac Newton Jones and some of his family members. Daniel Webster Jones, the last caretaker of James Black, wrote that Black was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. It is very likely he is buried next to the graves of the Jones family in an unmarked grave.

Over the years, many of the markers, some made of wood, fell into disrepair and even disappeared. Historic Washington State Park maintains the grounds and continues to preserve both marked and unmarked graves.

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Williams, Joshua. Black, James, Encyclopedia of Arkansas . November 18th 2011. Accessed April 15th 2022. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/james-Black-2534/.