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. He was assisted in his work by fellow heritage society member Ivan Carey. We present here the results of the project.
Hillcrest Cemetery is located on Gallows Hill, beginning at the intersection of Kaulbach and Townsend Streets, and extending up the hill and around the Lunenburg Academy property. The cemetery is very large, owned by the Town of Lunenburg, and is still operational. The pre-1867 gravestones included in the photo project are all located in the old section of the cemetery, nearest the intersection; the earliest known marker is from 1761.
Among the well-known persons buried in Hillcrest Cemetery are Nova Scotian historian Beamish Murdoch (1800-1876) and Adolphus Gaetz, whose surviving diaries document everyday life in Lunenburg from 1855 until his death in 1873. Their tombstones were added to the project because of their significance. Also included is the tombstone of Gaetz's daughter, Amelia, who died in New York, aged 34, in April 1872, and was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery. Her burial procession was described by Gaetz in an affecting account in his diary, which was published by the Archives in 1965.
No doubt the most remarkable tombstone photographed was that of 14-year-old Sophie McLachlan, who was unjustly accused of stealing $10.00 from her employer. Not even her parents believed in her innocence and she died some time afterward of 'a paralyzed heart brought on by extreme agitation and peculiar circumstances.' Some months after her death, the son of her former employer confessed to the theft. The inscription on Sophie's tombstone in Hillcrest Cemetery reads simply, 'Falsely accused she died of a broken heart.'
From the Nova Scotia Archives