The Fifth Saturday volunteer program at Friendship Cemetery is seeking volunteers to help with upkeep.
By Lana Pierce
At the four-way stop at Hollywood Avenue and Shady Grove Road, drivers pause briefly between two of Hot Springs’s most historic cemeteries. To the south is Hollywood Cemetery, the oldest active graveyard in the city limits which sweeps across several blocks. A “For Sale” sign stands akimbo at the edge of the old Potter’s Field. “Suitable for commercial property,” is its selling pitch.
To the north is Friendship Cemetery, a predominantly Black cemetery established in 1922. The entirety of the graveyard is visible from the intersection, but its monuments are misleading, for there are far more people resting under its slope than there are headstones to remember them by.
The differences between the two cemeteries are evident, especially at night. Hollywood’s monuments to late prosperity disappear under a canopy of hardwood trees. A few plastic flower sprays and faded miniature flags dot the landscape. A few gravestones, with that serene but austere beauty particular to antique statues, loom above the others.
In contrast, colorful lights and pinwheels weave through Friendship, where banners, photos, and carnivalesque décor give the entire hill a sense of constant movement—even on the darkest nights.
But their shared trait is a sad one, as both cemeteries constantly fight against the elements and human neglect (for there is more work than any one or two individuals can ever keep up with). Markers crumble, then collapse in pieces, then sink beneath the leaves and mud. At times, storms wreak havoc across both cemeteries, leaving each one reminiscent of ships gliding downward after a hard-fought battle.
It is against this backdrop that City Director Phyllis Beard (Ward 2), considered options to clean up Friendship, stripping the tentacles from long-buried markers, taming the branches and ivies that forever pull at the graves, and helping the sole caretaker in his interminable work. She implemented a “Fifth Saturday” strategy.
“I was driving to the dog park,” she recounts, “and I saw that Friendship Cemetery would turn 100 years old on April 3, 2023, so I created a Centennial Celebration for it.” But when planning that event, she noted that landscaping there needed attention. Not one to delegate tasks, Beard took up the challenge, inviting volunteers and rallying workers.
Anyone is welcome to participate. Reach out to Beard for more information on how you can help or reach out to the author at lanamama@thespringsmagazine.com for help in logging graves online into cemetery databases.
2025 Fifth Saturday volunteer opportunities: March 29, May 31, and August 30. Consider bringing your own tools, lawnmowers, rakes, bags, trimmers, chainsaws, gloves, and water. If you don’t have these tools, there are plenty of other tasks that require less physical exertion!
Lana Pierce is a captain with the North Little Rock Fire Department and owner of The RetroFit. Under a pen name, she has been published in over 200 books, journals, and newspapers.
