Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

St. Clement's Pioneer Cemetery

Closed Cemetery in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

Aug 01 2014

 |  1115
 |  0
Recent status Closed
Location # 10847

This cemetery was opened in around 1922 and is the current cemetery for St. Clements Roman Catholic Church in Cambridge[Preston]. However, there are burials here from another cemetery dating back to 1847, and that closed, abandoned and forgotten, pioneer cemetery[north end]is the main reason for this location. Apparently a new church[the one known today] was built in 1922 as well, and services were moved from the stone church to the basement of the new church. The headstones were then moved here to this cemetery from Duke St. and Dolph St. area in Cambridge's old churchyard. The graves and these people became suddenly nameless and forgotten except for the headstones a few miles away. No cemetery records exist for this old churchyard sealing these people's true identity. How did these workers think they were going to match the bodies now up at St. Clements to a pile of headstones there? Well I guess the workers thought they were smart and that no body would notice the bodies missing at St. Clement's and so they were all left at Duke and Dolph in a vacant lot. How respectful was that? .............................This sacred ground was disrepectively asphalted over and people played tennis above our valiant pioneers for many years. Eventually, the land was sold to a developer to build townhouses. Sixty-seven years later, in 1989, these poor abused, nameless pioneers for all these years now had construction equipment crushing their brittle bodies and ripping them apart. Once discovered construction halted until about 130 bodies were discovered and moved. Yes, but with no records it can never be known for sure if anyone isn't left under someone's basement in Cambridge. These bodies are finally here and close to their headstones again but they can never be matched up, now. You move one headstone with the deceased together, period The story loses detail about this time but there is finally closure now, here and that's good. Some Ukrainian German, and Polish headstones, in their language here is a nice change. A great old original looking gate in front, with stone pillars and a cross on each one, marking the entrance of this cemetery.................................In retrospect I can't see how this was missed. Wasn't anyone in charge of all the church clergy? A cemetery at a church forgotten by everyone? 130 graves takes a while to dig and needs much organizing, gathering volunteers, masses at both places etc....., and no one checked on it?, even days or weeks later? No one cared, really? No congregation visiting their relatives grave didn't wonder why there was no fresh dirt around or how it was all done so fast? Not one person? ...............................................................................Gently Rest In Peace...Sanft Ruhe in Frieden.......................A second visit revealed a few things I missed : An all metal[excellent choice] large cross headstone with light corrosion, at the north-west corner lying on it's side[german], A wooden cross headstone[poor choice but what they could afford] [polish] and Mary, beside the maintenance shed and fence on the east side.

Comments

Please log in to leave a comment

 • 

7 years ago

Thanks again Claire, my second visit revealed another headstone hidden and a wooden cross, probably covered by bush my first visit, and an old path toward the water along the tracks.

 • 

7 years ago

Obviously I didn't spend enough time there myself as I still missed a great metal cross. Yes the story is very sad and unbelievable and still bothers me but they are all finally here, now, just not exactly. Great add, Claire.

 • 

8 years ago

I ended up spending a lot more time here than I thought it would. It was fascinating. Thanks for sharing the location and the info. I've driven by here numerous times and never would of stopped to appreciate it otherwise.

 • 

9 years ago

Yes, and usually gets worse for some reason when I hit a cemetery.

 • 

9 years ago

Another perfect sky for your low angle shots..