RONDO, Ark.-While many people may claim to be "saved by the bell," some people near Rondo can claim to have returned that courtesy by saving a literal bell.
Texarkana, Ark., resident, local Southwest Arkansas historian and Rondo Cemetery Association member Ed Black said a recent fire that gutted the cemetery's 80-year-old chapel led to the inadvertent discovery of what is perhaps a 130-year-old school bell.
Black said that several years ago a tree fell on the chapel, severely damaging the structure's wooden roof. Because the tree was so large and heavy, only some gradual work could be conducted to clean up the building and preserve the chapel's remains.
Last month, the association held a cemetery cleanup day just one day before the bell's fateful discovery.
"On Sunday, March 24, at approximately 2:15 p.m., I checked on the cemetery," Black said. "Then at 4:03 p.m. that same day I received a text message that the chapel was burning, so I called the cemetery manager. He informed me that he was there on the scene with two fire departments (the Texarkana, Ark., and Genoa volunteer fire departments)."
Black said he drove by the cemetery about 6 p.m..
"There I noticed the bell in what would have been the front doorway of the chapel."
Black said he then called a friend, Jack Reeves, for his help in retrieving the apparent relic for safekeeping,
"Jack brought the bell to my house (that same evening) for storage," Black said. "One side of the cradle that the bell sits in was missing."
Black then called the Genoa VFD to find out precisely where firefighters found the bell within the cemetery's chapel.
"I was told they located it about 10 feet from the chapel's front entrance," he said. "Later, I found the missing part of the cradle about 5 feet from inside the doorway."
Reeves said that according to the bell's diameter, it appears to be a school bell dating back to about 1889.
"The bell possibly had been removed from the old Rondo School, which existed from about 1860 to about 1935," Black said last week. "Someone must have eventually placed it inside the cemetery's chapel, which is a building that goes back to about 1938. I started researching the bell and it appeared to be made of cast iron."
Black plans to approach the association's nine-member board and see what they have in mind about somehow preserving the bell.
Rondo Cemetery Association President Ron Jordan said he's excited to have a relic like the bell discovered and still in pretty good shape.
"Our next step will be contacting the association's board to see where we go from here," Jordan said.