So Many, So Young Traditional Cache

Old St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery is the final resting place of some of the original settlers of the Orillia area.

It holds the names and the forgotten stories of those that braved the woods to create our community. Yet, many people in the area pass it by on a daily basis without a second glance. Most aren't even aware that this neglected little cemetery exists right in the center of town.

Pioneer families began to trickle into the Orillia & Matchedash area around the turn of the 18th Century. Many of these families hailed from the predominantly Catholic country of Ireland. Not since the retreat of the Jesuit Misionaries some two-hundred years earlier, had a Roman Catholic presence been established in the area.

By the mid-19th Century, about 40 Catholic families had settled in what was then known as North Orillia. Although they were poor and did not have a Priest, in 1854 these families banded together to purchase 1.5 acres of land upon which to establish a religious center. The original St. Michaels' Catholic Church was built  upon this site. The new church building was very rustic, having been built of rough hewn wood and wooden pegs. Although it was lacking in any formal furnishings such as pews, it became an outreach from the Penetanguishene parish and served to create a new gathering place for Catholic families to worship together.
Shortly thereafter, a similarly constructed school building was also built on the site.
Within a few years the Orillia parish grew sufficiently to separate from the main Penetanguishene parish and by 1872 a new grand brick Catholic church was built on the current site of the Guardian Angel's Catholic Church. In 1876 the original wooden St. Michael's Church was destroyed by fire.

Internment continued on the Old St. Michael's Cemetery site until 1911.

The cemetery is currently in a state of disrepair and neglect with many headstones toppled, broken, over-grown and even tossed aside into the bushes. However, it is still a lovely little spot with benches and trees and a good dose of Orillia history.

Take a stroll, read some headstones, and think of the lives of those buried here. So many were so young. So much tragedy in some families. To imagine the changes that some would have seen over their life-time. And ponder also what is to become of this little piece of Orillia's history without some care and respect.

Please re-hide this cache carefully with the necessary camoflage. 

This cache has been placed as part of a joint effort by the City of Orillia Active Transportation Committee and the Parks & Recreation Department.