Old Burial Ground - 1825 - Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia
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T0SHEA
N 44° 13.637 W 064° 27.140
20T E 384005 N 4898142
Known as the Old Burial Ground because that is what it is, this old cemetery stands along Highway 331 in the community of Petite Riviere.
Waymark Code: WMY38V
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Posted: 04/12/2018
Views: 2
Given its name, we assume that Petite Riviere was initially an Acadian settlement. Petite Riviere was first settled in the 1630s, but by 1745 there were only two settlers remaining. The first English settlers arrived in 1769. There were eventually churches of three denominations built in Petite Riviere, A Methodist Church in 1817, the present Wesley United Church in 1866 and St. Michael's Anglican Church, built about 1853 and completed in 1855.
Given the date on the cemetery's gateway arch, 1825, and the fact that the Methodist Church (no longer extant) was built in 1817, we can't help but wonder if this may have been established as a Methodist cemetery.
Not much is known about the cemetery beyond the fact that there are something just under 100 remaining headstones, the oldest (that we know of) being from the 1860s. The most recently dated stone is from the mid twentieth century. This is understandable, as the nearest cemetery, the St. Michael & All Angels Anglican Church Cemetery, half a kilometer up the highway, is still in use.
