Cemetery in dire need of funding
As you walk through the Chebogue Cemetery, amongst the endless graves are the endless stories.
The endless family connections.
The endless moments in time. The endless importance of this place as a final resting spot.
The historical significance of the cemetery – located on the Town Point Road in Chebogue, Yarmouth County – is endless too.
It is the burial site of some of the first English-speaking settlers to arrive in Yarmouth County in 1761, as well as many Mayflower descendants.
It is also home to the famed monument known as the Marble Lady, which commemorates the life of Margaret McNaught Webster. She died in the mid-1800s and her husband, Dr. Frederick Webster, commissioned the monument to honour her memory.
UPKEEP
What also isn’t endless is the ongoing maintenance of the cemetery. As for the supply of funds – well that’s a different story, and those responsible for cemetery upkeep are turning to the community for help.
Over the years the cemetery has struggled to keep enough funds in its operating account to pay a part-time caretaker and helper when needed. The cemetery must also purchase equipment and keep it in working condition.
As the year draws to a close, the funds in the cemetery’s operating account are at an all-time low. The cemetery is ending the 2019 season with less than onequarter of the funds needed to maintain the property in 2020.
FUNDS DWINDLING
One day Brian Duncan will be buried in this cemetery.
But for now he is one of the seven volunteer trustees – along with a volunteer president, secretary and treasurer – responsible for the cemetery.
“Basically, the cemetery is a small business in a sense, we’re a registered charity as well, but we’re a small business with expenses and very little income,” he says. “Our income is from the investment of perpetual care funds that are a part of the sale of a lot. When somebody buys a lot they pay a fee and a portion of that is invested for care of the lots in the cemetery.”
Duncan says interest on their investments is at “a dead low.”
“We’re getting nothing,” he says.
As of Oct. 31 the cemetery had only received $377.21 in interest on its investments for the year.
“At the time the system was set up, interest rates were normal,” notes cemetery president Bill Tower. “If interest rates were normal again, we’d be OK.”
And so the trustees keep hoping for the ‘if’ scenario, knowing it’s not the entire answer to their woes.
What is the answer? They’re still searching for it.
The cemetery does also receive income from the burial of cremated remains, which is $200 per burial. The fee that is paid for the casket burials, however, goes directly to the gravedigger who typically does all of the work by hand. Memorial donations and fundraising are also a source of income. But all of this is not enough to cover maintenance and upkeep costs, which are estimated to be around $14,000 a year.
It worries the trustees.
SHORTFALL
“We just don’t have the income to replenish what we’re spending out,” Duncan says.
They could vote to withdraw more perpetual care funds to be used for things beyond what the money is intended for, but that could make a bad situation worse because if interest rates do rise to a point where the cemetery could benefit from them, they can’t benefit if the money is all gone.
And so they tread carefully.
HISTORY IN STONE
The dates on the gravestones and monuments in this cemetery date back hundreds of years.
With age comes a lot of need for care.
Aside from the obvious mowing and landscaping of the grounds, other ongoing work is required.
Casket graves settle. Over time as things settle and caskets decay the graves start to sink. Usually six to eight graves a year have to be repaired.
“We lift the sod and refill the grave. It’s a fair amount of work and takes time. And we have to have fill for that so there is an expense,” Duncan says.
There are also older, larger monuments on rock foundations that twist and tilt over time and have to be levelled. Some monuments are so heavy you need a rented boom truck to lift them.
THE CHAPEL
The cemetery’s chapel was built in 1949. In 2010 a lot of work was done to its interior to spruce things up in preparation for the 250th anniversary of Yarmouth’s
Chebogue Cemetery in dire need of funding for ongoing maintenance
I grew up in a big city, a world away from Cape Breton Island. But when December arrives and my thoughts turn to the approaching holidays, a certain nostalgia sweeps over me. I long for what I imagine are the simple, yet meaningful Christmas traditions that take place in that part of the province - traditions filled with a story sense of community and a rich history of storytelling that continues to be passed down through generations.
Curled up in my favourite chair next to the woodstove in my house, winter lights sparkling in the dim firelight, a copy of this year's Cape Breton's Christmas open on my lap, I picture my family gathered around listening to stories about kindness and generosity. Stories that make us feel grateful for what we have, and not envious or sad about what we don't have.
TEAR JERKER
Breton Books has produced the sixth edition its popular Christmas stories book. This year's new collection includes 50 memories told by writers like Sandra Dunn and Tim Vassallo. There's even one wartime tale by Farley Mowat that made me cry. His sad but beautiful Second World War story tells of a Christmas Eve spent on the battlefront in Italy where a battle raged all night, and the rifle companies were running out of men.
“When I woke it was morning of the day before Christmas. I was lying on a straw pallet in a corner of a lamp-lit room with vaulted stone ceilings. The place was crowded with sodden and exhausted men, including several company commanders and their radio operators. An O-group was in progress. Once again Doc was shaking my shoulder.
“Colonel says ya gotta get up, boss,” he told me sternly. Then his broad face lightened. “Here . . . see what I got for ya! Pair of clean socks. Liberated 'em out of a dead Jerry's kit.”
He was as pleased with himself as if he had brought me a captain's promotion and he had reason to be, for clean, dry socks had become only distant memories to us in that time and place. I pulled them on and was astonished at how good they made me feel,” Mowat begins the story, Christmas at War Somewhere South of Ortona, Italy, 1943.
To put the Christmas book together, Ronald Caplan, publisher of Breton Books, spent much of the past year looking for stories, by asking both friends and strangers to think about Christmas past. He is happy some of Cape Breton storytelling is preserved in these books.
In one of the book's first stories called Elopement at Christmas, writer Cathy MacAulay-Spencer recalls one of the most touching moments in her life.
LASTING LOVE
“My grandparents eloped on Christmas Eve over 90 years ago. My grandfather Bob was a wild one. Bob was one of the first to have an automobile in Port Morien and he used to race along the main road. My grandmother's parents were less than impressed with the romance. My great aunt Effie described the wedding as a 'Here's your hat, what's your hurry?' elopement—not so much as a cup of tea afterwards. But my grandparents had a long and successful marriage, five children, seven grandchildren.
It became tradition to celebrate their anniversary and Christmas eve at their house in Number 11, Glace Bay. We got together, laughed, told stories and ate my grandmother's excellent gingersnaps and melting moments. The thing is — I never saw my grandparents touch each other.
They were about to celebrate their 50th anniversary, and never once had I seen a hug, a kiss or even a hand-holding. Oh, they loved each other. It was evident in my grandmother's compassion for Bob's failing mobility and Bob's unfailing appreciation for Nana's cooking. But physical affection — never.
In the fall before my grandparents' 50th anniversary, my grandmother was hospitalized with a heart problem. She spent weeks in the hospital. On December 24, they let her go home. I was in the back porch when my aunt escorted her up the steps. My grandfather opened the door, took her hand, drew her across the threshold, put his arm around her to escort her inside and kissed her gently on the forehead. It was one of the most poignantly beautiful moments in my life.”
All royalties from the book are donated to Feed Nova Scotia.
“Everyone seems to have at least one good Christmas story,” said Caplan.
MORE BOOKS ON THE SHELF
Kentville-based Gaspereau Press has released several new books. Odysseus Asleep: Uncollected Sequences, 19942019 by Truro-based author and poet Peter Sanger, brings together several poem sequences that previously appeared in chapbooks and limited-edition publications, and adds to them a new poem, Odysseus Awake.
Nova Scotia-based writer and curator Ray Cronin's new book, John Greer: Hard Thought is the latest in the Gaspereau Field Guide to Canadian Artists series. It follows the career of Greer who started teaching sculpture at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in the 1970s, when the college was becoming an incubator of the emerging Conceptual Art movement. Cronin argues that Greer went on to become a pivotal figure in contemporary sculpture in Canada.
Poet and novelist Tammy Armstrong has a new collection of poetry, Year of the Metal Rabbit. Armstrong, who lives in southwestern Nova Scotia, often draws on the natural world for subject matter and imagery. Her first collection of poetry, Bogman's Music, was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award.
SHORT STORIES
Halifax-based writer Ryan Turner has a new collection of short stories. Half-Sisters and Other Stories explores human relationships—between parents and children, siblings, lovers, and coworkers. Setting his characters against the backdrop of daily life, he delves into their anxieties, triumphs, and vulnerabilities.
The Dome Chronicles (Nevermore Press) by author Garry Leeson tells a true, 1970s back-to-the-land story. In 1972, Leeson, a writer, auctioneer and farmer, left Toronto with his partner and a menagerie of farm animals and set out for a deserted 100-acre farm on the South Mountain in Harmony, N.S. They were determined to preserve the foundations of an old farmstead while constructing a geodesic dome. Over the next 40 years, through both flood and fire, and various highs and lows, they persevered.
HOCKEY
The Three Stars (MacIntyre Purcell
Publishing) by author Philip Croucher, is now a best-selling sports book in the region. It tells the story of three NHL superstars - Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand - and one of their magical seasons.
“They're not only three stars in the NHL and the hockey world, but they're our three stars. We're lucky to call them our own,” Croucher writes in the book's introduction.
The book explores the province's hockey history and how the three players have changed the way fans and NHL executives look at players coming out of the province. The book also explores how all three made it to the NHL and breaks down their remarkable 2018-2019 season. Croucher is the author of three books, including the best-selling Road to the NHL, Winners: The New Generation of Maritimes Sports Stars, and Brad Marchand: The Unlikely Star.
LIFE LESSONS
“In 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and in 1969, I met my mother. I was eight years old.” Randall James begins his memoir, Cape Breton Orphan (Caper Books).
James takes readers on a roller coaster ride through his childhood, teen and adult life. After years of neglect, poverty, and violence, James graduates from high school and heads out into the world. His shaky foundation leads to battles with alcohol, marital and health issues, and even a suicide attempt. James's candid account of his struggles and his subsequent transformation attempts to show readers the deeper meaning he found underneath the hardships of his life.
NEW IN BOOKS FOR KIDS
OC Publishing has launched Halifaxbased author, Cindy Tingley's second book, Lily's Desert Adventure.
“I want the younger readers to realize that even if they're only little they can do anything they put their mind to,” said Tingley. “They can decide if they want something, they can go and do it. Nothing should stop them.”
The story is told through the eyes of a little donkey named Lily and continues the adventure from the first book, Lily's Secret.
Gatekeeper Press has published a Second World War story, The Broken Sword, by Capt. Richard Mingo Sweeney, a former Pictou resident who died in 2015. Inspired by the author's wartime experiences, the novel is a tale of adventure, romance and hidden conspiracies set in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland between 1941 and 1946.