SF9 #46 - Ramara History - St. Columbkille's Traditional Cache
Be-Strong-Carry-On!: Go in peace.
SF9 #46 - Ramara History - St. Columbkille's
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150-year old St. Columbkille's Roman Catholic Church in Ramara is said to be haunted.
Do you dare to seek out this cache?
This series of caches will take you to some of the many Historic locations around Ramara Township. The first settler in Mara arrived in 1823; Rama’s settlement began in 1836. Each of the sites we have chosen were significant prior to 1900.
As each of these locations is historically significant, please pay extra attention and do not unnecessarily disturb anything at the site. In the case of active cemetery caches, please be respectful of any mourners that may be present and wait to make your "find" until they have left. It goes without saying that dogs should not be taken onto cemetery or historically sensitive grounds.
Each cache placed in this series is micro-sized. As much as most people prefer larger cache containers, we felt that the micro size allowed for the least disruption of the historic location.
St. Columbkille's Roman Catholic Church & Cemetery
150 years old ... and haunted??
The Uptergrove area of Ramara Township was first settled in the earliest years of the 19th Century. The early pioneers of the area were mainly Irish and Scottish Catholic immigrants fleeing from religious persecution and lack of opportunity for land ownership, compounded by the terrible potato famine of the 1830's and 40's. With concern for their religious obligations, they gathered in small groups at select family homes, called "stations", for the celebration of Catholic Mass and the receiving of sacraments. Priests travelling on horseback would stop at at each "station" to offer blessings and the sacrements to all who had gathered there.
In 1855 the Parish of St. Columbkille's was formally established. It remains the oldest active parish in the North section of the Archdiocese of Toronto. At this time, construction was begun on a central church. The pastor, Father John Synnott (1855-57), entered in the church records of 1857 -‘new frame church under the patronage of St. Columbkille, hense its name, Church of St. Columbkille Mara’. The first rectory, was built in the first few years after construction of the church. The vestry, bell tower and brass bell was added approximately ten years later. There were several long sheds built alongside the church to shelter the horses. Farmers either walked or came driving a horse and buggy or in winter, a cutter. Travel could be difficult, especially in winter, with deep snow and cold. The last shed was torn down in the 1940's.
The old wooden church building was torn down and the new solid block and brick one built on site in the earliest years of the 20th Century. The cornerstone was laid July 19, 1905, and was blessed by Archbishop Denis O’Connor of Toronto. The steeple bell and carved benches were moved from the old church to the new structure. The new church was considered quite spectacular and features a hand hewn arched ceiling, in a ribbed vault style, covering the nave of the church without supporting pillars. Two rose windows, beautiful stained glass windows and carved High and side altars enshrine the statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and St. Columbkille. A basement was dug after the main church was erected. Between 1910 and 1917, steam was put in the church, and a generator allowed electric lights and water to feed both the Rectory house and the church. Later, in 1927, electricity and plumbing was installed. The rectory has now been vacant since the mid 1990's.
In the early years, parish picnics, garden parties and euchre parties, and Christian Mothers groups provided the social focus of the parish. St. Columbkille Church, still has an active social focus, and continues to host fall bazaar, luncheons and Church Suppers complete with homemade pies.
In the early days, burials were in family burial plots on their homesteads. Later, a pioneer cemetery was located on the Getting’s farm at Uptergrove, with the remains eventually being moved to the present cemetery at St. Columbkille when the railroad lines went through. The earliest recorded burials are dated from 1804 and 1808. However, it is most likely that these were moved to the main cemetery from earlier burials on family plots on individual homesteads. The majority of the oldest on-site burials are dated to the 1860's and onwards.Original settlers are buried there as well as several priests and veterans of the two world wars. There are also a number of unknown graves. A burial vault with the capacity to hold 20 bodies was built in the early 1920's.
Local rumour has persisted for more than 100 years that the church is haunted. The local legend is that a priest years ago pledged to complete a specific number of sermons and that he died before he attained that number. Now, some parishioners say, he is returning to fulfill that promise. A "ghostly prank" played on a group of women cleaning the church received much publicity in 1964 and attracted curious area residents to the hilltop church, where they gathered on an almost-nightly basis to wait for the ghostly apparition. Reports of ghost sightings, shadowy figures that appear out of nowhere, creaking doors and an organ that plays by itself are some of the reported "haunting" events. The burial vault has been known to creak and blow open on cold, windy days. Some present-day parishioners are not happy with the church's haunted reputation and say the Irish were simply great storytellers who wanted to create their own legend. Whatever the truth may be, these stories have created a rich folklore of the supernatural in the otherwise quiet country parish.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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