MOSCOW -- Belmont Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery in Moscow has been added to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places, the Department of Arkansas Heritage announced Wednesday.
The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program State Review Board approved the addition on Dec. 4 during a meeting at the Department of Arkansas Heritage.
"The property is representative of small, rural African-American churches and cemeteries in the South, and is roughly two acres in size," according to the nomination form.
The nomination goes on to say, "Buried within the confines of the cemetery are some of the early-freed men and women to settle in this part of Jefferson County. There are twelve marked burials within the cemetery, which all took place between 1904 and 1929, but there are an unknown number of unmarked graves on the site as well."
The original church building, according to the Department of Arkansas Heritage website, was completed in 1901, according to a surviving cornerstone, and was pastored until 1913 by Samuel L. Woolfolk, who also, according to local sources, operated a school out of the building.
In 1945, according to the website, the original church building burned, resulting in the loss of the structure and all of the church records, which is why very little information is available on the history of the community and the congregation.
The current structure was built in 1947 out of concrete block, a material that was both economical and fire resistant. A portico in the front of the building was enclosed in 1961 to create a small foyer and additional restrooms.
Church services were discontinued in 2014 when the last pastoral appointee left the church. The building is still used for funerals and community events.
According to the website, the cemetery serves as the resting place for some of the original black settlers in the area, with the earliest graves dating to 1903, making the cemetery the oldest black resource in the Moscow community, an unincorporated community near the junction of U.S. 65 and Arkansas 199, about 12 miles from Pine Bluff.
A significant number of unmarked graves in the cemetery are said to belong to freed slaves who moved to the area after the Civil War.
Additionally, the review board approved 13 sites for consideration by the National Park Service for consideration at the federal level. Those sites are:
• The Joe Marsh Clark House, Fayetteville, Washington County.
• Downs Historic District, Little Rock, Pulaski County.
• Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Little Rock, Pulaski County.
• Alexander House, Little Rock, Pulaski County.
• Maumelle River Bridge, Natural Steps (vicinity), Pulaski County.
• Bennett House, Benton, Saline County.
• Lano Gymnasium, Lano, Hot Spring County.
• Ellis Williamson House, Brinkley, Monroe County.
• Patteson House, Jonesboro, Craighead County.
• Lee Grocery Store, Elaine, Phillips County.
• Dante House, Dumas, Desha County.
• Mountain Home Cemetery Historic Section, Mountain Home, Baxter County.
• John G. Williams House #2, Fayetteville, Washington County.
State Desk on 12/12/2019