On an early, autumn day last year, Louis and I
were driving along Lakeshore Road as it meandered through the cities of Burlington and Oakville, admiring the many grand waterfront homes and the majestic trees that towered overhead.
Exploring the many side streets that lead to the water's edge, we happened to turn down a small road that led to a quiet, lakeside neighbourhood where a peaceful cemetary lay in the middle.
Gazing at the old gravestones that lay scattered under 200 year old oaks and pines, I felt myself entranced at how such a halcyon place had survived all of these years while the city had grown up around it.
The blueness of Lake Ontario caught my eye, where the road ended, and I noticed the cemetary lay along the shore with some headstones very close to the eroded embankment.
Being a history buff, the site remained in my mind and I vowed to one day find the cemetary again. The next time I would take pictures and learn of it's history, I quietly thought to myself.
On an early spring day, not too long ago, I set out once more
to find the old cemetary that held secrets of the area's early beginnings; tales of schooners sinking in gales and small children dying of the numerous diseases of the day.
Traveling up and down various roads that led to the water's edge, I came home unsuccessful and even more determined to locate this beautiful, heritage area.
Googling Oakville pioneer cemetary, I at last found what I hoped was my cemetary. Once again I set out with my Garmin close by in search of West Street along the shores of Oakville.
Traveling down the tree-lined street, I sighed with satisfaction as I spotted that , yes indeed, I had found the pioneer cemetary that had so marked my soul last autumn.
Parking my car and gathering my camera, I began to meander amongst the almost 200 year old gravestones and marvel at their beautiful carvings and simple inscriptions.
My heart felt a deep sense of sadness as I noticed that many of the graves were those of children and very young men and women. I could only imagine how hard times must have been back then.
Bronte Pioneer Cemetary came to be in 1830 when Phillip Sovereign, a farmer in the area, designated the peaceful eastern corner of his property as a cemetary. Many local people had already been laid to rest there.
He wished for it to be a burial ground for people of all 'orders, sects, nations and parties' and officially deeded it as such. Many of the earliest people's who had escaped slavery via the Underground Railway came to be buried here.
Childhood mortality was very high in the 1800s
and the cemetary has an even more sadder feel with 1/3 of the graves being those of children.
Schooner and shipwrecks were common on the Great Lakes in the early days of settlement and many mariners who's boats were lost in storms off the cemetary's coast, were laid to rest here.
One of them, Jimmy Baker, a young man who was the 1st mate of the schooner Magellan, was the only body found when the Magellan collided with the U.L. Hurd in 1877.
Two brothers, the Dorlands, were young fishermen whose boat capsized in a great storm in December 1886. Both perished and were laid to rest in Bronte Pioneer Cemetary, leaving behind two young families.
The fierce storms of Lake Ontario have wreaked their havoc on the cemetary over the years and 70 feet of cemetary have been swallowed by the crashing waves, taking along some graves of the early pioneers.
Today it is a peaceful place with towering old Oak trees where Gray Squirrels scamper about looking for acorns and building nests.
It seems very fitting that Mourning Doves are commonly seen now, walking serenely amongst the old stones.
Some of the stones have suffered vandalism through the years, and the sands of time have eroded many inscriptions away, however the feeling of reverance and sorrow for those whose lives were lost, still remains.
In 2003, the Bronte Pioneer Cemetary was registered under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act as a Heritage Site.
The cemetary is a peaceful place to visit for those who are interested in historical sites and in the early history of the Village of Bronte and the City of Oakville. There are benches where a traveler can sit and gaze in awe at the beauty of Lake Ontario while the silence of the heritage site washes
over a harried soul.
©2009JoSmith
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Jo-Anne Smith, the author of this article, is a REALTOR® with Sutton Group - Quantum Realty Inc., Oakville, Ontario and welcomes your real estate inquiries. To contact her, visit www.Oakville-BurlingtonHomes.com
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Loyalists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution.
mix of shops and restaurants in downtown Bronte.
artists.
