Palmerston was first established as a town due to the railway station that opened there in 1871. The town used a small area of land as a cemetery on Queen Street North, called "Old Palmerston Cemetery". In 1876, Minto Township Cemetery was founded just east of the town on Highway 23 and the individuals buried in Old Palmerston Cemetery were reinterred at the new cemetery location. The name was later changed from Minto Township Cemetery to simply "Palmerston Cemetery" and is currently active to this day. The cemetery is home to over 4,000 burials, certainly making it a cemetery that I will continue to research, revisit and re-post about in the future.
Upon walking through, there were a few headstones that had cracked and fallen over, as well as a number of monuments that appeared to have been altered or repaired. Over time, some of the older headstones began to fall over, and as a result, have been moved near the south entrance and installed standing upright in a cairn. As previously discussed in the post about the Petherton Pioneer Cemetery, a cairn is historically a man-made grave marker out of stone or rocks and in more modern practices it typically refers to a cement setting were old or damaged headstones are set into. The cairn can be seen in the photo below, containing headstones in a variety of sizes, shapes and stone types.
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A new columbarium has become a recent addition to the Palmerston Cemetery. A columbarium is a structure where cremated remains are interred. Below is a photo of the new columbarium with a freshly paved walkway near the front of the Palmerston Cemetery. It is a hexagonal shape and nearly identical to another one recently installed at Harriston Cemetery. I was surprised to learn the cost of this columbarium was around $70,000, making it quite a purchase for the township. This columbarium contains 72 'niches' or units for interments. Often times cemeteries will struggle to sell the niches on the lower parts of the columbarium as, understandably, the ones at eye-level are the most popular.
Palmerston Cemetery is one of the cemeteries included in the annual 'Headstone Hunt' organized by the Harriston Historical Society. 2023 will mark the 7th annual Headstone Hunt held by Minto Township, being held from June 26 to August 10 this year. This cemetery 'scavenger hunt' encourages the appreciation of our local cemeteries and the rich history they have to offer those who take the time to look around. I have been a participant previously and highly recommend the hunt to both locals and visitors alike! See link below to visit the Harriston Historical Society website for more info on this year's Headstone Hunt.
https://www.harristonhistoricalsociety.com/events
Ontario Genealogical Society
Findagrave.com