PIONEER CEMETERIES WORTH VISITING
The COVID-19 virus has dramatically changed the way that we interact with other people. So much sickness and death has occurred because of this virus and many lives of families who have lost loved ones will be changed forever.
Our ancestors were also plagued by viruses that caused the loss of loved ones. They did as we are now by pulling together and supporting our family and friends through these very trying times.
If anything positive can be said of this pandemic, it is that families have been spending more time together - either physically or online. We have realized, as our ancestors did, that family is everything and our good health is so previous.
So many people who would have usually traveled to other countries on vacation are now looking for more places close to home to visit and explore.
If you are looking for a peaceful historic or deeply meaningful place to visit, take a minute to consider the resting places of our ancestors. Bringing your family to visit a cemetery would usually not be the first fun place that would come to mind but consider what our ancestors went through to pioneer our Cape Breton where the forest greeted them growing down to the water’s edge.
They had to clear huge old growth trees, pull out the stumps, plow and harrow the land before planting their crops. They built their first log homes from these trees and raised large families without the aid of our modern medicine or social government sponsored safety net.
I recently visited one of these resting places of my own ancestors in Boisdale. I was guided there by a kind gentleman, George MacLean of Beaver Cove. As a boy, George was shown this pioneer graveyard by his neighbour, Finlay Cameron, and at that time in the 1960s there were gravestones still visible, even though the graves were then over 150 years old.
Some of these pioneer graveyards are quite close to the water because in the time of pioneers the water was their highway, as travel by land was slow and arduous.
Another local historian, Blaine MacKinnon of Beaver Cove, explained that in the pioneer days, before the formal establishment of churches and parishes, it was quite common that the deceased would be carried to the gravesite and that every number of miles a cemetery would be established that would be accessible to the local population.
Not all of these pioneer cemeteries are kept in beautiful condition that our more modern interment sites are, but they are worthy of our attention and protection to maintain their peaceful and historical existence.
One pioneer cemetery that is very well kept is located in Christmas Island. I was also informed of other pioneer cemeteries in Beaver Cove and in Ironville.
The people who maintain any cemetery should be commended for all of their hard work in keep the resting places of our departed loved ones in a condition which shows our remembrance.
One of the stories that was told to me by my grand uncles was the strange appearance of lights many years ago in our Christmas Island cemetery. If you now visit our cemetery after dark on a summer evening, you will be greeted by a light show of multi-coloured solar lights that adorn our family, ancestral graves. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I’m not so sure.
If anyone has pictures, stories or information about any of the pioneer cemeteries, including the Boisdale pioneer cemetery, and would like to share it, I would be very interested.
Iomadh Beannachd Leibhse Uile – many a blessing be with you all. Barry George Christmas Island