This appellage for Fayetteville was used as early as 1882 as an allusion to the seven hills of Rome. It is similar in intent as the phrase “the Athens of Arkansas,” also frequently applied to Fayetteville, imbuing it with qualities such as the moral goodness of education and democracy associated with the classical world of ancient Rome and Greece.
If seven specific hills were intended to be the seven hills, no printed list has been discovered as yet.
Charles Stewart, in researching for the Washington County Historical Society the question of which hill were the seven hills, came to a similar conclusion but speculated that if seven were intended, they might be the seven most easily seen from the Fayetteville Square: Mount Sequoyah (formerly East Mountain), Mount Nord, Markham Hill, Washington Mountain, McCollum Mountain, South Mountain and Puddin’ Hill.
However, almost 30 hills and mountains are named within Fayetteville or in close proximity, and more than seven are visible from the Square, which from several angles is also a hill unto itself.
Early mentions of the phrase “seven hills of Fayetteville” appear in the Aug. 13, 1882, issue of the Arkansas Gazette and the Nov. 30, 1882, issue of the Fayetteville Weekly Democrat.
Hills
- Dead Horse Mountain
- Fox Mountain
- Gallows Hill
- Goat Hill
- The Hill, also called McIlroy Hill
- Kessler Mountain
- Maple Hill
- Markham Hill, also called Pratt’s Hill and Archias Mountain
- McCollum Mountain
- Millsap Mountain
- Mount Nord
- Mount Sequoyah, earlier named East Mountain
- North Hill
- Pierce Mountain
- Puddin’ Hill, earlier named Brooks Mountain
- Putman Hill
- Raid Mountain
- Red Hill
- Robinson Mountain
- Root Hill
- Rose Hill
- Round Mountain
- Sassafras Hill, also referred to as Slaughter Mountain, Mount Vernon
- South Mountain, formerly Baxter Mountain
- Sunrise Hill, also referred to as Rochier Heights
- Trenton Heights
- Waneetah Heights
- Washington Mountain
- Watermelon Hill
- Waxhaws Hill
- Zero Mountain