Stone Gardens: A, out-of-the-way Boone County cemetery holds the earthly remains of 400 souls

In the rugged hills south of Harrison, a quiet half-acre of earth known as Milam Cemetery (also called Liberty Cemetery, Old Milum Cemetery, or Silver Valley Road Cemetery) holds the bones and stories of the county’s earliest settlers.

Just off Silver Valley Road near Crooked Creek, this historic site contains 400 documented memorials, with 94% photographed and 86% GPS-mapped.

The ground began as a private family plot in the early 1850s and was formally deeded for public burial in 1872. Fewer than 200 marked graves exist, many with only rough fieldstones, while others remain undocumented beneath the soil.

The story starts with Jordan Milum (c. 1764–1851).

Born in Goochland County, Virginia, he served as a Revolutionary War soldier at the Battle of Camden in 1780 and married Mary Peacock in 1792.

Father to Samuel James Milum, Jordan left Hickman County, Tennessee, in 1851 at age 87 to join his son in Arkansas.

He died on December 31, 1851, and was buried on Samuel’s land. one of the first interments that sanctified the site.

His son, Samuel James Milum (1793–1872), drove the family’s westward journey. Born in Abbeville District 96, South Carolina, he married Annie McCann in 1809 and raised eight children.

After farming in Hickman County, Tennessee, Samuel relocated in May 1846 to what was then Carroll County (later Boone), settling along Crooked Creek. A War of 1812 veteran, he witnessed the frontier evolve into a settled community.

In July 1872, at age 79, he deeded a quarter-acre in Section 1, Township 18 North, Range 20 West, to William Bruce, deacon of the Primitive Baptist Church, “for the burial of the dead” .

Samuel died three months later on October 4, 1872, and was laid to rest in the ground he had secured.

Among the earliest burials was Rhoda J. Milum (c. 1805–early 1850s), wife of Samuel’s son Bartley Burris Milum. Born in Tennessee, she migrated to Arkansas with Burris in the late 1840s.

Raising children in a log cabin amid fever, floods, and isolation, she died in the early 1850s—likely from illness or pioneer hardship. Her grave, beside Jordan’s, helped establish the cemetery as a community anchor.

During the Civil War, Boone County endured guerrilla raids and divided loyalties. Local accounts confirm the Milum plot served as a clandestine burial ground with graves dug hastily at night to avoid bushwhackers.

Though not formally dedicated until 1872, the site was already in use by the 1850s. A school or church always stood near the entrance gate, giving rise to the “Liberty” name. The current structure is utilized by locals as a community center.

After the war, burials continued slowly. In the 1950s, when Bull Shoals Lake flooded nearby valleys, headstones from submerged cemeteries like Manley were relocated here, merging displaced histories with the original Milum ground.

A newer section developed near Lead Hill, but the old cemetery remains the historic core.

Today, the site stands largely unchanged: cedars shade weathered markers, wildflowers grow among fieldstones, and Crooked Creek flows nearby.

To visit the cemetery, start from downtown Harrison at the courthouse square. Head south on Main Street (US-65 South) for 1.8 miles, passing the city limits and a few strip malls.

When you reach the intersection with Capps Road, turn left onto AR-7 South and drive 2.5 miles through rolling farmland.

Watch for a small, often-unmarked gravel road on your right (Silver Valley Road). Turn here and follow the narrow, winding path for 1.7 miles as it dips through woods and open fields.

The road is dirt in places and can be dusty or muddy depending on weather. After about a mile and a half, you’ll see a small clearing on your right with a simple metal gate, a cluster of cedar trees, and scattered headstones.

That’s Milam Cemetery--no big sign, just the quiet gate and stones. If you cross a low-water bridge over Crooked Creek, you’ve gone about 0.3 miles too far; turn around and look to your left.

Pull off on the shoulder near the gate to park.