Over 200 people are buried in this N.S. cemetery. These women won't let their names be forgotten - Action News
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Nova Scotia

Over 200 people are buried in this N.S. cemetery. These women won't let their names be forgotten

Yvonne Rafuse and Betty Rhodenizer of Dayspring, N.S., have been advocating for a new monument to be placed at the Hillside Cemetery. They want the names of the people buried there former residents of the Lunenburg County Home to be listed at the site, but so far theyve had no luck with municipal officials.

Grave plots at the Hillside Cemetery in Dayspring are marked with numbers, not names

Why these women are advocating for names to be added at this N.S. cemetery

10 days ago
Duration 3:08
Two women in Lunenburg County have been advocating for a new monument to be placed at the Hillside Cemetery. They want the names of the people buried there to be listed at the site. But so far, theyve had no luck with municipal officials. The CBCs Cassidy Chisholm reports.

Other than a few upright gravestones, the Hillside Cemetery in Dayspring, N.S., would be easy to miss.

The cemetery is tucked away at the edge of a municipal trail system in the Lunenburg County community, surrounded by a fence to keep it safe and clean.

It's been there for more than a century, serving as the burial place for more than 200 people, but Yvonne Rafuse only learned of it during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wanting more exercise, she and her husband started walking the local municipal trails. But when they came upon the cemetery, she was surprised there were no names at the site just 170 numbered granite stones placed in the ground.

It was disheartening to see, she said.

"These names were given to these people at birth. A lot of these people had families, they had children of their own, they had husbands, wives, parents," Rafuse said. "I felt that that needed to be recognized, that these were real people and not just numbers."

A plaque on a large rock sits outside a fenced-in area.
This plaque was placed at the site in 2018. It recognizes that the people buried in the cemetery were residents of the Dayspring, N.S., facility. (Cassidy Chisholm/CBC)

The people buried in the cemetery are residents of the Lunenburg Municipal Home or County Home. It has also been referred toas the Lunenburg Municipal Hospital, but that isdisputed.

The so-called poor farmwas established by the Nova Scotia government in the late 1880s to house people who were poor, physically sick or mentally ill.

The home closed in 1980, but its cemetery is still maintained by the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg.

In 2018, municipal council placed a small plaque and interpretive signage at the site to provide visitors with information about who is buried there and why.

But Rafuse saidthat's not enough.

This black-and-white photograph shows the Lunenburg Municipal Home in Dayspring, N.S., from across the LaHave River.
This old photograph shows the Lunenburg Municipal Home in Dayspring, N.S., from across the LaHave River. (Submitted by Betty Rhodenizer)

She, along with local genealogy specialist Betty Rhodenizer, want the names of those buried there added to a memorial monument at the site.

The pair spent hours conducting research at the South Shore Genealogical Society and analyzing death records from the hometo create a list of names of the people buried at the cemetery.

They found 207 people, and there could still be more.

"We did the research," Rhodenizer said. "We went all through the records and we picked out all of the folks who were buried here in the cemetery andwe've made lists of themand [we're] trying to see what we can do to give these people dignity and recognition."

An interpretive sign that reads Hillside Cemetery stands outside a fenced in field.
The interpretive sign outside the Hillside Cemetery in Dayspring, N.S., provides information about who is buried there. (Cassidy Chisholm/CBC)

So in January, the pair presented their findings to the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg in hopes of getting a monument erected that lists all of their names and the numbered plot where they're buried.

They suggested that the names of everyone buried in the cemetery be added to a monument at the site. They also want some information at the site to be corrected.

The plaque and interpretive sign say people were buried there between 1904 and 1954, but their research shows the first burial occurred in 1895 and burials continued until at least the 1960s.

It's a "historic wrong that needs to be righted," said Rafuse.

"There should be no shame in having lived in the county home that's 1950s thinking."

An old photo of a large two storey building. People stand outside. An old car is seen parked in the driveway by the home.
The County Home in Dayspring, N.S., opened in the 1880s. This archived photo from 1932 shows people standing outside one of its buildings. (DesBrisay Museum Archives)

But in June, a staff report to council suggested a different approach to adding names at the site: a grave marker program.

It would allow relatives of the people buried in the cemetery to purchase a nameplate to be placed on the plot where they're buried.

But Rafuse and Rhodenizer say that will be complicated.

Some may not have living relatives to come forward. And some plots have multiple people buried in them.

"There's a possibility of when people do the research, they may find that their ancestor or relative is buried in a grave with some others," Rafuse said.

"And so it could be a bit of a dilemma in terms of putting a grave marker for one person, especially knowing there may be another person buried in there with them."

A numbered stone sits in the ground, looking out over a grassy field.
There are 170 numbered stones in the Hillside Cemetery, marking where people are buried at the site. (Cassidy Chisholm/CBC)

Rafuse said they weren't consulted on the change.

Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson acknowledges their concerns, but said it should be up to the families to decide.

"If the families want the names there, then we would be more than happy to move forward with that, but the program will be put in place to have the markers that will individually mark the graves of those individuals," Bolivar-Getson said.

She said if multiple people are buried in the same plot, multiple nameplates can be added.

A woman with red hair wearing glasses and a black-and-white print blouse.
Carolyn Bolivar-Getson, mayor of the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, says it will be up to families to decide if they want names added to the plots. (Tom Ayers/CBC)

Bolivar-Getson said details of the new program are being worked out this summer, and staff will be working with the South Shore Genealogical Society to fix any incorrect information at the site.

But Rafuse said she'd like the municipality to reconsider their decision on the plaque.

"We know that it's not going to happen in the near future, but hopefully when information is out there for people people will find out about the cemetery and take an interest in coming up to see and take a look and maybe find their relatives here."

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