Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Butters Cemetery

Abandoned Cemetery in West Grey, Ontario, Canada

Jun 28 2014

 |  871
 |  0
Recent status Abandoned
Location # 10635

This area was originally settled with a land-grant by Archibald Butters in 1856, and later sold to Angus Butters in 1878. Part of the sale agreement was that an acre of land be reserved as a family cemetery for the Butters family and other local pioneers.

This is a wilderness cemetery which was badly damaged with the progress of building infrastructure. When the roadway was constructed, the entrance to the cemetery was cut down by twelve feet to allow a smoother flow to the road. Later, as hydro was brought into the area, Ontario Hydro ran their lines across part of the cemetery and in the process cut down several trees and never removed them or cleaned up their mess. Several graves may have been damaged and gravestones lost forever in the rubbish left behind. The cemetery was deemed as beyond refurbishing and left abandoned for many years. In 1985, the family of Alex Stonehouse tried to recover the remains of the cemetery, fixing many of the damaged stones and standing them upright once again, a task which proved to be overwhelming as the damage and neglect was left far too long. Slow growing grass was planted and a sign was erected at the roadway, as well a new path was carved in the forest to allow access to this once lost cemetery, however little is now done to maintain the history of Butters.

Comments

Please log in to leave a comment

 • 

9 years ago

There letting the spirits know the direction to go.

 • 

9 years ago

I have seen this motif on many headstones around the province, not sure of the significance.

 • 

9 years ago

What is the pointing finger? A family motif, or a common symbol of burial plots of the past?