Graysonia

Overview

A mill town that cut itself out

Graysonia stood on the east bank of the Antoine River in western Clark County, in pine country roughly halfway between Arkadelphia and Alpine. It was a company town. The Arkadelphia Lumber Company, run by William Grayson and Nelson McLeod, moved its mill here when the timber around its old site gave out, and named the new town for Grayson. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas dates the move to 1907. Wikipedia gives 1902, the year the two men took control of the company.

World War I made it. From 1915 to 1920 the mill was one of the largest in the South, with more than 500 workers cutting 150,000 board feet a day. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas counts about 350 people at the start and more than twice that at the peak; Wikipedia says over 1,000. The town had a large commissary, a confectionery, a movie theater, three hotels, a school, a church, running water and electricity. Though the company owned it, the town incorporated and elected its own officials. The Bemis family's Ozan Lumber Company joined the business in a merger that the Encyclopedia of Arkansas's Ozan entry dates to December 15, 1915; its Graysonia entry instead dates the Bemis buy-in to 1924.

The end came with the timber. Lumber companies of the day cut a tract and moved on, and by 1931 the Depression and a shortage of logs had left the mill with nowhere to go. Cinnabar, a mercury ore, turned up in southwest Arkansas in 1930 and drew some mill hands to the quicksilver mines, but that work faded too. In 1937 the Bemis family, by then the owners, used some of the Graysonia machinery in a new mill at Delight. The post office closed in November 1950, the census that year found no one, and the woods took the townsite back.

Timeline

From mill move to empty census

1. 1902William Grayson and Nelson McLeod become the principal stockholders of the Arkadelphia Lumber Company. Wikipedia's unsourced history describes the move in the same passage and lists the town as established in 1902.
2. 1907With the timber near its old site running out, the company moves its mill to the Antoine River, by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas's account. The new town is named Graysonia for Grayson, the company's president. About 350 people live there at first.
3. Early 1900sThe Antoine Valley Railroad, a lumber line of about 6 miles, links McLeod to a connection at Graysonia and switches finished lumber to the Iron Mountain.
4. 1910The Memphis, Dallas and Gulf takes over the Antoine Valley line when the lumber companies' three railroads merge.
5. Dec 15, 1915The Bemis family's Ozan Lumber Company merges with the Grayson-McLeod Company to form the Ozan-Graysonia Lumber Company, by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas's Ozan entry. Its Graysonia entry instead dates the Bemis buy-in to 1924.
6. 1915–1920World War I lumber demand makes Graysonia one of the largest mills in the South. More than 500 workers turn out 150,000 board feet a day.
7. 1922The Memphis, Dallas and Gulf goes into foreclosure, and a new company, the Graysonia, Nashville & Ashdown, is formed to buy its line. Graysonia is not on the route it ends up keeping.
8. 1924The Bemis family buys into the company, which becomes the Ozan-Grayson Lumber Company in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas's telling (Ozan-Graysonia in Wikipedia's).
9. 1930Cinnabar, a mercury ore, is found in southwest Arkansas. Mill hands are encouraged to work for the Arkansas Quicksilver Company.
10. By 1931The Depression and the lack of timber make the mill's position untenable. The planer mill runs on stored lumber for a while, then the mill closes.
11. 1935After William Bemis dies, Ozan-Graysonia merges into the Ozan Lumber Company, taking about 52,000 acres with it.
12. 1937The Bemises open a new mill at Delight, in Pike County, with some of the Graysonia mill's equipment.
13. Nov 19, 1950The post office closes and mail goes through Alpine. The 1950 census counts no one at Graysonia.
14. 1951The last known resident leaves, by Wikipedia's account.

What's left

Concrete in the pines

Accounts of what survives don't agree, and none is a recent field report we can date. An undated listing names several concrete mill buildings: two kilns, the fire house, a water reservoir and part of the main mill, with foundations scattered through the woods. Wikipedia says only some building foundations remain. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas, updated in April 2025, says few visible remainders of the town exist. Short videos uploaded to YouTube on September 1, 2024 show board-formed concrete walls among the trees and a dark doorway hung with vines.

The land is private. The 1950 census found nobody at Graysonia, and the 2026 parcel records list no assessed improvements on the townsite parcel. Across the river in Pike County, a few small lots are assessed with buildings.

• Concrete mill walls (seen in 2024 videos)
• Dry kilns, fire house and reservoir (undated listing)
• Building foundations in the woods

On the map

The townsite on old USGS sheets

The 1943 Antoine sheet, drawn after the mill had shut, still labels Graysonia. It marks benchmark 352 at the townsite, a pond just southwest of it inside a bend of the river, and a rail line running south along the east bank, its label cut off at the edge of the crop. Straightway Church stands to the northeast and Caney Fork Church to the north.

The 1960 Little Rock sheet places Graysonia on the river south of Shawmut, with Pike City to the west and Antoine to the south. On the 1986 Arkadelphia sheet the name survives with a spot height of 105 meters and the pond, while a quarry appears downriver and mine symbols dot the hills to the east.

Historic maps

Graysonia on USGS maps, 1943–1986

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19431:62,50019601:250,00019861:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Arkadelphia is the closest city. From Little Rock the route takes I-630 and I-30 to Arkadelphia's Pine Street exit and then follows the same roads. West of AR 26 it runs on county roads we haven't checked. The drive ends where the routed line turns off Bobo Road, 23.0 miles and about 57 minutes from downtown Arkadelphia (89.2 miles, about 2 hours 7 minutes, from Little Rock). The last 1.9 miles follow a private track to the townsite, so don't go on without the owner's permission.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

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Visitor reports

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Nearby

Other sites near Graysonia

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arkansas index.

• Daleville23.5 mi E · Clark
• Mount Olive29.4 mi SW · Howard
• Mauldin34.7 mi N · Montgomery
• Midway36.1 mi W · Howard
• Paraclifta46.4 mi SW · Sevier
• Forester49.4 mi NW · Scott
• Gate58.1 mi NW · Scott
• Blansett63.8 mi NW · Scott

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Graysonia": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, remains).
2. Wikipedia, "Graysonia, Arkansas", retrieved October 2026: location between Arkadelphia and Alpine, the 1902 date, population over 1,000, incorporation, 1950 census of zero (its history section is flagged as unsourced), the last resident leaving in 1951, foundations remaining, coordinates (GNIS 57038).
3. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Graysonia (Clark County)" by Rachel Jespersen, updated April 13, 2025: the 1902 stock purchase and 1907 move, the name, 350 people at first, the 1915–1920 boom, 500 workers and 150,000 board feet a day, the town's amenities and incorporation, the 1924 Bemis buy-in, cut-and-move logging, the 1931 crisis, cinnabar, the 1937 Delight mill, the post office closing on November 19, 1950, the zero census, "few visible remainders."
4. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ozan Lumber Company" by David Sesser, updated June 20, 2025: the December 15, 1915 merger forming the Ozan-Graysonia Lumber Company, the 1935 merger and its 52,000 acres, the Delight mill opening in 1937.
5. Wikipedia, "Ozan Lumber Company", retrieved October 2026: the December 1915 merger, Graysonia's size and amenities by then, W. N. Bemis's death in 1935.
6. Wikipedia, "Graysonia, Nashville & Ashdown Railroad", retrieved October 2026: the Antoine Valley Railroad to Graysonia, the 1910 merger, the 1922 foreclosure and the new company, Graysonia left off the final route.
7. Arkansas GIS Office, statewide parcel polygons, assessor data dated August 31 and September 10, 2026, queried October 21, 2026: the private owner of the 461.85-acre parcel at the townsite (no improvements), the timber companies and private owners around it, and the Pike County homes across the river.
8. Bureau of Land Management, National PLSS (CadNSDI), queried October 21, 2026: Section 22, T7S R23W, 5th Principal Meridian at the GNIS point.
9. jynxclover, "graysonia Arkansas vid1", "vid2" and "vid3", YouTube, uploaded September 1, 2024: concrete walls standing in the woods; the uploader's note that the area "is now closed to the public."
10. Arkansas Department of Agriculture, "Posting of Real Property", read October 2026: Arkansas Code 18-11-403, written consent to enter posted land, purple paint marks.
11. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, "Deer Seasons and Limits by Zone", read October 2026: 2026–27 archery season dates; gun seasons by zone.
12. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Graysonia on the 1943 USGS Antoine sheet, with benchmark 352 and the pond in Section 22: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Antoine 1943, 1:62,500; Little Rock 1960, 1:250,000; Arkadelphia 1986, 1:100,000.