JCB 4/07/06

There is a lonely chimney behind the Immaculate Conception Church at 13th Street and Garrison Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This chimney has long stood at this location--first as the chimney belonging to a building that was associated with old Camp Belknap and then as a part of the Grotto of the grounds of St. Anne's Academy. A plaque explains that the chimney once belonged to the home of Zachary Taylor--the nineteenth-century president and hero of the Mexican War.

Archeologists from the Arkansas Archeological Survey and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville are working on this site in order to ascertain who lived here and what their lives were like in the early years of the frontier town of Fort Smith. Click on the links below to find out more.

Introduction: About the Project

Zachary Taylor & Fort Smith

The Sisters of Mercy on the Arkansas Frontier

The Historical Landscape

2004 & 2005 Archeological Investigations

Artifacts Recovered

Cultural Memory in Fort Smith

News Stories, References & Links