Welcome to the Black River Memorial Cemetery
The "Restin'" caches are a series that will take you to local cemeteries, places of great historical interest. From pioneers and modern people these places are full of interesting information.
Black River Memorial Chapel is no longer used for regular church services but is opened only for special events. It was closed by the United Church in 1967 about 130 years after the congregation was founded. It began in the 1830’s when revivals were sweeping the County and other parts of rural Ontario. Between 1830 and 1860 little Methodist congregations, with many of their new converts, formed all over the County. They were led by a combination of lay class leaders and circuit riding preachers on horseback, each of whom served a large number of small congregations over a very wide area. Little chapels were soon built every few miles; so many were needed because of the numbers of people who were wanting to attend and because of the difficulty of families travelling long distances by foot or by horseback to church.
Gradually, as transportation improved, as rural populations began to decline and then, in the twentieth century, as church attendance declined, many of these little congregations were amalgamated and some of the chapels sold to serve as homes or barns or shops.
However, Black River Chapel, with its surrounding cemetery, was not sold but still remains as a reminder of that less secular period when rural Ontario was so deeply shaped by evangelical Protestant revivals.
Maintained by the County of Prince Edward. This cemetery, located at the junction of County Roads 13 and 16, belongs to the South Bay United Church and was at one time the cemetery affiliated with the Black River Memorial Chapel. Two church services are held at the Black River church annually. Land was deeded for the Free Methodist Church by William Hughes in 1867, and the frame building was built between 1870 and 1872. The first burial at the cemetery is dated 1854. Prominent names found in this cemetery include Simerman, Hughes, Kerr, Buchanan, Mack and Jarvis.
Notable Military Grave
WWI Soldier, Private William BUCHANAN
Service Number 219950
80th Bn.
Canadian Infantry
