Date/Time
Date(s) - March 5, 2022
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Categories
London & Middlesex Branch invites you to join us on Saturday, March 5, 2022, at 10 a.m. for a Zoom presentation with speaker, David Long, representing the Friends of Brick Street Cemetery
About the Speaker: David Long, one of the Friends of Brick St Cemetery, grew up a few hundred feet from the Cemetery. His family were considered newcomers to the community, as they only arrived in the 1930s. Preserving history and restoring this small piece of London has been a labour of love and a fulfillment of a wish of his grandfather. Elmer Long was a trustee of the cemetery for over 50 years until his death at 102, in 2008. He always said; “somebody needs to do something about fixing the cemetery”. I suppose this is what he had in mind.
In the 1960s, David Long walked past the cemetery every day to attend public school. The neighborhood was still populated by the descendants of those buried in the cemetery, and the monthly neighborhood grass cutting bee in the cemetery always revealed one or two hidden stories about those buried in the cemetery. As a young child, these stories always were of interest, and the memory of them came in handy when the genealogy of the cemetery was being researched. David along with the other Friends of BSC have been very much involved in Cutting the grass, fixing tombstones, prodding for unmarked graves and working on the documentation of the burials and genealogy and of the cemetery. This Presentation is an opportunity to share the journey of the burial ground from a family burial ground in the early 1800’s to using cutting edge technology 200 years later (Ground Penetrating Radar), to reveal lost and hidden secrets.
Synopsis: Brick St Cemetery, located on Commissioners Rd in London Ontario is perhaps the oldest open existent burial site in the city. Located in what was the earliest settled area in Westminster township, it served as the Burial ground for the first settlers. The Cemetery slowly fell out of regular usage after the creation of Woodland Cemetery and Mount Pleasant Cemetery in the 1870s. The annexation of this part of Westminster township, in 1960, into the city and a shift in the land usage and residential demographics accelerated the cemeteries decline. By the early 2000s, the cemetery was in very poor condition and its future was in question. The Friends of Brick St Cemetery, a group of concerned volunteers, stepped up at this time, to restore and preserve London’s Oldest Burial ground. Using traditional, as well as modern techniques, this small group has been able to document and restore the burial grounds into an interesting historical destination, and hopefully ensure its existence into the future.
Photo by tmhc.ca
To learn about Brick Street Pioneer Historic Cemetery, https://ontariofamilyhistory.org/brickstreetcemetery/
Register: The event is free and all are welcome to attend and share this with your friends and family. Registration is required. To register, visit http://bit.ly/LMOA-Mar2022
