In use since at least 1761, the oldest known dated headstone in the cemetery, Hillcrest has, as of 2018, received about 2,030 interments. It remains in use today.
Probably the most interesting, and saddening, headstone is that of
Sophia L. McLachlan, a fourteen year old girl who was falsely accused of stealing about $10 from her employer. It was not long before Sophie, as is inscribed on her headstone, "
Falsely accused, she died of a broken heart". A pair of plaques have been mounted at her headstone, text from one of which follows.
SOPHIA, AGED 14 APPRENTICED TO A MRS. TRASK. DRESS MAKER. CARRYING ON A BUSINESS AT WHAT IS NOW THE SITE OF 242 LINCOLN ST. WAS ACCUSED BY HER EMPLOYER OF THE THEFT OF A PRINCELY SUM OF $10.00. PLEADING HER INNOCENCE SOPHIA BECAME ILL, OFTEN OBSERVED LYING ON HER SISTERS GRAVE NEAR HERE. SOPHIA'S GRIEF WAS ADDED TO BY HER MOTHER'S ACCEPTANCE OF MRS. TRASK'S STORY. SOPHIA'S CONDITION WORSENED, CONFINING HER TO HER ROOM AT WHAT IS NOW THE SITE OF 169 PELHAM ST. AT THE INSISTING OF A FRIEND A DOCTOR WAS CALLED BUT HE COULD NOT PREVENT HER DEATH...AMID MUCH SPECULATION BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY A CORONER'S JURY WAS SUMMONED TO HOLD AN INQUIRY INTO SOPHIA'S DEATH. THE UNANIMOUS DECISION FOR THE CAUSE OF HER DEATH WAS BY "PARALYSIS OF THE HEART BROUGHT ON BY EXTREME AGITATION AND PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES."
THE PASSING OF SOPHIA WAS NOT FORGOTTEN AND SOMETIME AFTERWARDS MRS_ TRASK'S SON ADMITTED TO THE THEFT. MRS. TRASK AND HER SON MOVED FROM LUNENBURG AND NO RECORD OF THEIR PLACE OF RESIDING EXISTS. SOPHIA'S FAMILY MAINTAINED THEIR RESIDENCE IN LUNENBURG WHERE SOPHIA'S FATHER PLAYED HIS TRADE AS A SHIPWRIGHT.
THOSE WHO KNEW SOPHIA REMEMBERED HER AS A PRETTY GIRL WHO WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN.
ERECTED BY THE BLUENOSE G.R.S. SOCIETY
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