Mystery solved
Caretakers of Ebenezer cemetery found
The mystery caretaker of the Ebenezer Cemetery has been identified.
It turns out it’s not just one person, but the Salt Springs 4H groups.
Betty Lou Scott said last week she was reading an article in The News written about the small cemetery located off the Trans Canada Highway near Mount Thom and was surprised to read that its caretaker was unknown.
“Our club is really big on community service. We are always looking to do things in the community,” said the leader of the Salt Springs 4H club.
“We do Adopt-a-Highway and have for somewhere for over 30 years and we have planted flower beds at the church and fire hall.”
She said she knew the Ebenezer Cemetery was abandoned, so she mentioned it at a 4H meeting and everyone agreed to take it on as a community service project.
Scott said former councillor Leonard Fraser was very supportive of their project and helped them apply for municipal services grants to help with maintenance costs. The metal sign erected at the cemetery was purchased through such a grant.
“A 4H leader had done a plywood one but it blew down with the wind so we did this one,” she said.
Scott said when 4H decided to take on the care of the cemetery about 20 years ago, she asked for volunteers to cut the grass. For several years, it was one of the 4H leaders in the area, but recently the work has done by the Rushton family, which includes 11-year-old Jaykus and his parents Ashley and Jason.
“I asked if anyone was willing to take it on and the Rushtons spoke up,” she said.
It takes them about 45 minutes to mow and trim around the nine stones. Some of the stones are leaning, but Scott said fixing them is too much of a financial burden for the 4H club.
The story of how this cemetery originated begins with a church that, like the cemetery, was called Ebenezer.
The church was started in 1845 as a Free Church of Scotland by 20 families. According to historical information online, the first church in the community was a Presbyterian church in 1822 known as St. Luke’s.
Ebenezer was started by a seceding group that formed under the Free Church of Scotland in 1845-1846.
The Free Church, as a denomination, was formed by evangelicals in Scotland who broke from the Church of Scotland in 1843 in protest against what they regarded as the state’s encroachment on the spiritual independence of the church. The ripples of that split spread to Nova Scotia.
The St. Luke’s and Ebenezer congregations reunited in 1908 as St. Luke’s, and in 1929, the entire congregation merged into the United Church of Canada.
According to a Sept. 25, 1976, edition of The News, then called The Evening News, the church was being demolished. The paper describes how the stones were removed to allow the site to be fixed up. One of the most common names in the cemetery is Proudfoot.