The first church built in Heatherton, St. Mary's, also a Roman Catholic church, was begun in 1842, being replaced by the present Immaculate Conception Parish church in 1867. Immaculate Conception was likely built as St. Mary's Catholic Church, a church of another parish, becoming its own parish in 1875. Whether the original church quickly became too small or whether it met an unfortunate and spectacular demise we know not. Neither do we know the exact location of the first St. Mary's church, but we assume it to have been either in or across Heatherton Village Road from the cemetery.
Established in 1858, sixteen years after the construction of the first church, the cemetery remains active today, administered by Immaculate Conception Parish, which is across the intersection of Heatherton Village Road & Summerside Road from the cemetery. As of 2015 there were 282 interments listed by
Find A Grave in St. Mary's Cemetery. We have no way of knowing how complete their list is, nor how many unmarked or unknown graves might exist therein. The earliest burial listed is that of Daniel MacDonald, who was born in 1838 and passed away October 3rd, 1846, meaning one of two things. Either Mr. MacDonald was buried elsewhere when he died and later disinterred and reburied in St. Mary's, OR he was buried in St. Mary's well before the cemetery was officially established.
We noticed that one of the largest families in the community, probably the largest, is the Chisholm clan, with dozens of Chisholm headstones here.
HEATHERTON, Antigonish County
A settlement east of Antigonish. Known as "Pomquett Forks" until part of the district was named Heatherton by act of the Nova Scotia Legislature in 1879.
Many the early settlers were from Scotland. e.g. John Chisholm, Donald Ban Gillis, John. Donald, Archy, Hugh, Ronald, Angus and Alexander McDonald. John Tolbert (blacksmith).
Ihe first school in section 25 was a log house on the west side of the Pomquet River which had belonged to John Chisholm (Donn) and the first teacher was Joseph Grant.
A new post office building was completed June 3, 1965.
A Roman Catholic Church was built about 1842 ministered bv the priests of St. Andrew's later from Pomquet. A new church was started in 1867 and the mission became a separate parish of Immaculate Conception in 1875. The Sisters of St. Martha have Our Lady of Fatima Convent.
By 1898 it contained three stores, one hotel, two sawmills, a cheese factory and had a railway station on the Eastern Extension Railway to Cape Breton. It is now a mixed farming district with poultry and dairying and some lumbering.
Population in 1956 was 203.
From the Nova Scotia Archives