Conway Cemetery Historic State Park

About Conway Cemetery Historic State Park

This park is located on the west side of the Conway Cemetery, south of the intersection of Interstate 75 and I-75. There are no campsites or visitor services at this historic site, but there is a campsite for visitors and services.

Conway, born in Tennessee, came to Arkansas in 1829 as a surveyor from St. Louis. He took office when Arkansas became the 25th state to join the Union on June 15, 1836. This historic site in the state was dedicated to Governor Conway and preserved as part of the Arkansas State Park System, a state park system. The cemetery is located on the former Conway Plantation property called Walnut Hill, south of Interstate 75.

He settled on the estate with his wife Mary and two sons William and John at the end of the 18th century.

He also helped map the Arkansas-Louisiana border and led Conway to the Choctaw Nation, now the state's western border, which stretches south of Fort Smith to the south of the Red River.

In 1832, Conway was appointed land surveyor of Arkansas by President Andrew Jackson, and in 1836 he became the first Choctaw Nation chief in Arkansas, the country's first tribal government.

He was elected with a sizeable majority and presided over the next four years, but his poor health and a struggling economy meant he refused a second four-year term.

In 1848 he returned to his plantation, where he was active in bourgeois politics until his death in 1855.

The park has a biographical marker describing the life of Governor Conway. To get to Conway Cemetery State Park from Bradley, drive two miles west, turn right onto the highway and drive one mile to the park entrance.