by Wesley Harris
First in a series on Lincoln Parish cemeteries
Cemeteries are rich historical archives, offering insights into our past. Epitaphs and gravestones often include vital information about individuals beyond names and dates that can shed light on historical events, trends, and lifeways of an earlier time.
The carvings, the use of symbols, and the materials used can indicate prevailing artistic tastes, cultural trends, or religious beliefs. Cemeteries often reflect social structures; the differentiation between the graves of the wealthy and the poor, or the presence of segregated sections, can provide insights into societal hierarchies.
Cemeteries serve as a record of historical events and conflicts. For example, the presence of a significant number of deaths spread among all age groups within a short time frame may indicate an epidemic struck the community. In many places, recognizing military service is extremely important to the surviving family.
Cemeteries are more than final resting places but tangible links to the past, preserving and reflecting the histories of individuals, communities, and societies. By studying them, we gain a deeper understanding of historical contexts and cultural shifts. Tombstones can give a perspective on history otherwise unknown.
Ruston’s largest cemetery is just two blocks from the Downtown Historic District. The gravestones in Greenwood Cemetery represent a Who’s Who in early Ruston history. Many of the merchants, doctors, lawyers, bankers, educators, and public servants who developed young Ruston into a thriving community are buried in Greenwood.
In its early days, the graveyard was called Ruston Cemetery or City Cemetery. Far from being an old cemetery compared to earlier Lincoln Parish plots, the cemetery was formed in 1884 when Robert Russ donated the plot to the new town as a public burying ground. The oldest marked grave dates to that year.
The origin of the name Greenwood is unknown nor the date the name first found use. The original ground fell between what became Alabama Avenue, Everett Street, Georgia Avenue, and Colvin Street. The current cemetery is now five times that size, totaling about 30 acres.
The cemetery was laid out in perfectly symmetrical plots, which are evidence in the attached aerial photograph.
Most of Ruston’s early mayors, judges, sheriffs and police chiefs are buried at Greenwood. The two Ruston police officers murdered in the line of duty are buried there. Chief John Tom Sisemore died from a shotgun blast from ambush in 1898. Officer Andrew Harrison Posey was shot and killed at a disturbance call in 1940.
A small square in the center of the original property contains the resting place of several dozen infants. Only a few of these graves are marked with a permanent stone marker. Others are marked only by a simple metal tag or with nothing at all.
Women made their mark on early Ruston. Founders of the Pierian Club, which celebrated its 125th anniversary this year, are buried in Greenwood. So is Marianne Marbury Slaughter, a nationally known writer who published columns in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Detroit Free Press, and other papers for 40 years under the pseudonym “Pleasant Riderhood.”
In a nearby plot, Charlotte Long Davis, sister to Governors Huey P. and Earl K. Long, rests next to her husband Robert Wesley Davis who ran a huge lumber milling operation. Charlotte Davis is deeply involved in civic activities including promoting the arts. She took over as president of the Davis Brothers Lumber Company in Ansley upon her husband’s death.
The native cedars and magnolias in the cemetery are among Ruston oldest trees. The 2019 tornado that cut a devastating swath across Ruston toppled or damaged some of the trees which in turn damaged a number of gravestones. Pink and watermelon red crepe myrtles have been added over the decades, many of them by the Ruston Garden Club.
One of the few city-owned cemeteries in America, Greenwood is a repository of history from Ruston’s earliest moments.
Next week: another Lincoln Parish cemetery.
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