Historic Longworth Avenue Roman Catholic cemetery restored

The Longworth Avenue Roman Catholic Cemetery in Charlottetown has received a major facelift and historians say it was worth the five-year wait.

The cemetery was used for 40 years in the mid-1800s and fell into disrepair.

A committee from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown restored the graveyard to its former glory at a cost of around $160,000, which came mostly from donations.

"We've recognized the sanctity of the property and we recognized that some dignity had to be restored to it and we've accomplished that," said Michael LeClair, who headed up the restoration committee.

"Lou Daley, a genealogist and researcher in Prince Edward Island went to old newspapers, to parish records, to any records that he could find basically and pieced it all together," said LeClair. "And he published an article in the Island Magazine, in I believe it was 1991, and that's what we used as the source material."

'Restores dignity'

The committee estimates around 1,500 people are buried in the cemetery but they can only confirm the details on 460.

Many of the stones had been removed or damaged, but a memorial now displays the names of everyone buried in the cemetery — even some famous Islanders such as one of the Fathers of Confederation Edward Whalen.

Historian Ed MacDonald says, whether famous or not, celebrating the history is what counts.

"Many of the people are ordinary people. And when the stones in the cemetery were lost, in a way their memory was lost. And so what the committee of the parish has done is to restore a dignity to these people and to restore their memory," he said.

"And these stones, the list of names on the monument, will now preserve them."

Coun. Greg Rivard says the city appreciates the work that went into the restoration.

"The cleanup of the area is so important to the city of Charlottetown, so important because it's such a huge landscape in the city so we're quite happy to see this work done."

The planning committee from the diocese says they may look into fixing up at least one other Catholic cemetery in Charlottetown and they hope this project will inspire other groups to do the same.