Rachel Tebbetts, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Graphic Artist and Photographer
Artifact of the Month - March 2026
The International Order of Woodmen of the World monument is not a unique artifact in that an estimated 45,000 can be found in cemeteries across the United States. The artifact featured here is located in Stearns Cemetery in Fayetteville, AR and is the central image on the 2026 Arkansas Archeology Month poster. The headstone stands 161.3 x 52.1 x 49.5 centimeters; 63.5 x 20.5 x 19.5 inches with a circular plaque “affixed” near the top. It is likely from around 1916, the year of the deceased. It is made of marble and is mottled white and grey in color.
Woodmen of the World (WoW) memorials are often recognized for their grave markers in the shape of a sawed tree, tree stump, or stack of wood. Woodmen of the World memorial plaques are one among many fraternal order symbols used in cemeteries and are common in the southern United States. However, the tree stump monument metaphor was frequently used at the turn of the nineteenth century and did not always indicate membership in WOW. “Stone tree trunks or stumps…provided a dramatic metaphor for the pain of loss” (Brown 1994:9). Depictions of tree fungus could emphasize that sentiment, while “the addition of ivy leaves indicated strength and ultimate triumph of rebirth” (Brown 1994:10). Tree markers may also symbolize the family tree of the deceased.
The fallen tree was used for WOW members to symbolize the tree being “cut down to serve the useful purpose of sheltering humanity. The log also symbolizes the fallen woodsman himself” (Dustman 2016). Woodmen of the World grave markers are distinct from other tree headstones in that they often weave in symbolism of the organization’s primary themes, including an axe, a splitting maul or hammer, and wedge. A key to identifying Woodmen of the World headstones can be the presence of the Latin phrase “Dum Tacet Clamat”, meaning “though silent, he speaks”, as seen in this month’s featured artifact. They may also state “Here rests a woodsman of the world.” Use of the word “rest” is deliberate in that “woodmen ‘never lie’”(Dustman 2016).
Modern Woodmen of America was founded in 1883 by Joseph Cullen Root, a successful Iowa lawyer who belonged to the International Order of Odd Fellows, Knights Templar, and Knights of Pythias. He had the highest degree of instruction in freemasonry being a 33rd Degree Mason. In 1890, Root split from Modern Woodmen of America and founded an offshoot called “Woodmen of the World”. Root’s vision was part insurance company, part fraternal organization. According to Texas-based historian Tui Snider, “Root used two tactics to make enduring cemetery monuments available to the common man”. One was that Woodmen of the World accepted men of all religions, including agnostics and atheists.
The other was its death benefits, now commonly known as “life insurance”. Members gained a life insurance policy and a headstone upon death. “This headstone benefit soon became unwieldy and expensive and was dropped between 1910 and 1920” (Davenport).
Woodmen of the World still exists today. Woodmen Life is the trade name for the not-for-profit Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society. Their legacy continues in these headstones and in their history which “includes numerous philanthropic efforts and community outreach projects” (“Woodmen Life”).
