Loyalist Burial Ground

Historic cemetery containing graves of the city's 1783 Loyalist founders

The Loyalist Burial Ground is an active historic cemetery in the heart of uptown Saint John, containing graves dating from the city's founding in 1783. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in English Canada and a quiet, atmospheric space despite its central location. Mature trees shade the old sandstone and marble headstones, many of which are weathered but still legible.

The inscriptions trace the first generations of New Brunswick's English-speaking settlement: Loyalist names, military ranks, the death dates of infants and elderly alike. The cemetery remained in use into the twentieth century, so the stones span nearly two centuries of Saint John history. The city has done a reasonable job of maintaining access paths and interpretation. It is a short walk from King's Square and worth twenty minutes of unhurried reading.

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A story
The earliest graves in the Loyalist Burial Ground are dated 1783 — the same year the first ships of Loyalist settlers arrived in the harbour below. These were people who had left everything behind in the former colonies, survived a winter in a settlement of tents and rough shelters, and begun burying their dead within months of landing. Reading the inscriptions — the ages, the family groupings, the dates — the human cost of the Loyalist migration becomes concrete in a way that museum displays cannot quite achieve.