Oak Grove Cemetery

Oak Grove Cemetery is one of several cemeteries with that name in Conway, Faulkner, and Lonoke counties in Arkansas.

Oak Grove Cemetery in Faulkner County

Oak Grove Cemetery in Faulkner County is located at the end of east Bruce Street near the edge of Dennis F. Cantrell Field. There are approximately 953 graves here, scattered among groves of cedar, magnolia, and oak trees. The cemetery opened in 1880, and plots are still available for interment. The cemetery is the site of the annual fall play "Gone But Not Forgotten" which catalogs the legacy of the Conway pioneers. The other is a Confederate reenactment ceremony dedicated to the memory of Colonel Allen Rufus Witt, buried here. The first president of the cemetery association in 1880 was Colonel George W. Bruce. The first burial was performed on July 11, 1881. The cemetery has been expanded several times. Sometime after 1955 the cemetery annexed the neighboring Robinette Cemetery to the west. Oak Grove Cemetery is currently twenty-four acres in size. One well-known feature of the cemetery is a white painted gazebo.

The cemetery is the last resting place of longtime Conway Twitty drummer Tommy "Porkchop" Markham. Markham played with the band for thirty-one years. Markham was born in 1941 and died in 1993. His gravestone is marked with the inscription: "Playing in the Big Band Now." Approximately one hundred Confederate veterans from the Civil War are buried here as well.