Old Parish Burying Ground to be named Municipal Heritage Property?

On Oct. 23, 2007, Windsor Town Council will consider designating the Old Parish Burying Ground a municipal heritage property.

Located on King Street across from Maplewood Cemetery, the Burying Ground was open to interments from all denominations from the 1770s until 1887. As early as 1889, Henry Youle Hind, geologist and historian, appealed for the protection of the Old Parish Burying Ground where he believed between 3,000 and 4,000 people were buried.

Mayor Anna Allen suggested Windsor Heritage Advisory Committee consider the Old Parish Burying Ground for designation under the Town’s Heritage Property Bylaw late last year. She said, “the cemetery should be recognized as a vital part of the history of Windsor.”

Although the last church on the site burned in 1892, the Heritage Advisory Committee under Chair Laurie Murley found that the Burying Ground is significant because of the gravestones and the people who were buried there.

Murley was enthusiastic in her support of the designation, saying, “gravestones, more commonly called memorials today, truly keep history alive. Walking through an old burying ground and reading the quaint epitaphs raises many questions about those buried there and encourages us to connect with the past.”

The Honourable Michael Francklin, an early Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, donated two acres of land for a Church and Burying Ground in 1776. His wife Susanna, along with many members of prominent Windsor and Nova Scotian families, are buried in the Old Parish Burying Ground including: Isaac DesChamps, the fourth Chief Justice of Nova Scotia (1785-1788); Winckworth Tonge, grandson of one of the original land grantees; Susan Weldon, daughter of Thomas Chandler Haliburton; and William Cochran, the first President of King’s College.



Gravestones are significant

Beyond the genealogical and historical information found in the Old Parish Burying Ground, the gravestones are significant historically. Among the most interesting are those by a carver known as “J.W.”, who was known for carving his initials at the top of the stone in lettering far larger and more prominent than the deceased!

According to Deborah Trask, Curator Emeritus of the Nova Scotia Museum and an expert on Nova Scotia gravestone carvers, J.W. was James Wood of Windsor. Gravestones by J.W. also can be found in Brooklyn, Poplar Grove, Centre Burlington, Scotch Village and several burial grounds in East Hants and Kings County.

Members of the Heritage Advisory Committee and Town staff toured the cemetery this spring with Trask to try to gain an understanding of some issues involved in maintaining an historic cemetery. A survey of the gravestones in the Burying Ground was done in 1973 and is held at the West Hants Historical Society.

The Oct. 23, 2007 Windsor Town Council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers. The public is welcome to attend.

- Submitted