Cemetery

The Church of St. John the Baptist’s Cemetery is a perpetual memorial to former parishioners and their families.

The cemetery is immediately adjacent to the church building and there are still one or two large pines to remind us of the oak and pine forest that once covered the area.

Many cemetery committee members have worked diligently over the past 155 years, administering to the cemetery fund and maintaining the cemetery grounds.

Many of the original pioneer family names are on the monuments in this picturesque cemetery. Kerswill, Harper, McKenzie, Routledge, Legge, Alleyne, Brown, Beynon, Mortson, Snively, Newberry, Ash, Dibb, Chatterley, MacLeod, and Quetton St. George. So many others over the years, all of whom were instrumental in the planning of the future of St. John’s Church. The oldest burial is dated October 1850 and the cemetery is still operational.

At the present time, the cemetery is in the process of erecting a new cemetery fence. Years ago, in 1863, a fence was built to keep neighbouring cows from wandering through the churchyard. This is no longer the issue. This now costly project has been propelled forward in the committee’s planning, due to the rapid development in the area.

In June 2001, we held the First Annual Cemetery Memorial Day, as an opportunity for descendant of the families to meet for fellowship and share fond memories of days gone by. Each year attendance at this annual event has grown. We are constantly working on adding to our family history section of our records. We welcome enquiries from descendants and accept information to be included with our archives. (We’ve just started work on our Archive Display – but that’s another story!)