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 Old French Cemetery - Lunenburg, NS Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 44° 22.614 W 064° 18.869
20T E 395281 N 4914575
This small cemetery, originally Acadian, now holds only the headstones of the British settlers who came here a century or more after the French. All original markers are now gone, returned to the earth, like those for whom they were placed.
Waymark Code: WMY3M4
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Posted: 04/13/2018
Views: 2
The oldest cemetery in Lunenburg, this one was established by the Acadians who settled here in the 1600s, remaining, along with the Mi'kmaq, the only inhabitants for a century. In 1753 the British began to settle the area and used this cemetery until its closure in 1896.
Find A Grave's count of 76 remaining headstones should be accurate, as the result of a 1970s survey of the cemetery. The oldest extant headstone is that of baby Helen Elizabeth Lindsay, infant daughter of Robert & Arabella Lindsey, who died March 9, 1852. The most recent headstones are dated 1895.
In the late 1970s, Lunenburg's two oldest cemeteries were the subject of an ambitious recording project. Robert Campbell, a member of the Lunenburg Heritage Society and a skilled amateur photographer, undertook to photograph every surviving pre-1867 gravestone in Hillcrest Cemetery, and all the markers in the smaller Old French Cemetery.
The smaller Old French Cemetery is close to the waterfront, near the intersection of Linden Avenue with Montague Street and Bluenose Drive. It was already in existence when the Foreign Protestant settlers began to arrive in 1753, used previously as a burial-ground by local Acadians and possibly the Mi'kmaq. The early markers have all disappeared, and what remains today are those from 1852 to 1896, when the burial-ground was closed.
From the Nova Scotia Archives
City, Town, or Parish / State / Country: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada
Approximate number of graves: 76
Cemetery Status: Inactive Maintained
Cemetery Website: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Post an original, un-copywrited picture of the Cemetery into this Waymark gallery, along with any observations about the cemetery.
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