Volunteers restore dignity to historically significant N.B. cemetery
'There are so many of my ancestors' graves that have been ignored or forgotten'
Slowly, a few persistent volunteers are restoring dignity to a centuries-old cemetery outside Fredericton.
The group, led by Mary Louise McCarthy, met Saturday to cut back brush that had grown over some of the headstones.
The Wheary graveyard in Keswick is significant to black heritage in the area.
"I've just over the last few years realized that there are so many of my ancestors' graves that have been ignored or forgotten," said McCarthy.
"I just have made a commitment to myself that I will, as long as I can, try to respect and honour their lives and their existence here by respecting their graves."
McCarthy and two other volunteers raked and weeded the small graveyard — it's become a springtime tradition.
The graveyard is the final resting place of many of black Loyalists in the Keswick area.
Until McCarthy starting paying attention to it, it sat forgotten and overgrown for years.
The fence is falling down and several of the grave markers have fallen over, but it's in much better shape than it was when McCarthy started.
"The cemetery was really overgrown with trees and a lot of really difficult items to remove," she said. "So the cleanup has gotten much easier. The trees are gone, the stumps mostly are pulled out of the ground."
But there's still a long way to go, said McCarthy.
She hopes one day to raise enough money and awareness be able to restore the headstones.
"I would like to have the stones erect and pieced together because some of the stones now are in three spots, three actual fragmented pieces on the ground," she said. "So that's my biggest challenge is to get funds for that."
She would also like to get the wire fence and the gate straightened.
McCarthy has maintained the cemetery as best she can for the past seven years and she doesn't see herself stopping any time soon.
"I feel quite, I don't know if inspired is the word, but I am not tired or frustrated," she said. "I sometimes feel overwhelmed because I haven't been able to find the funds to secure the repairing of the wire fence here. But other than that I feel very inspired I'm not going to give up."