Historic Black community in N.S. plans restoration of cemetery

Gareth Hampshire · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 23, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Residents of the historical African Nova Scotian assemblage of Beechville are readying enactment to revitalize the section cemetery aft being awarded a assistance from the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The $10,000 assistance has been awarded to the Beechville United Baptist Church nether the Anti-Black Racism Grants program.

The initiative, which was unveiled past year, is aimed astatine helping Black communities woody with systemic and humanities challenges.

In recommending the funds, the metropolis said the task volition assistance sphere the stories and contributions of Beechville's ancestors, portion fostering a "sense of pride, respect, and transportation for families, visitors, and the broader community."

"It would beryllium precise important to our assemblage that the gravesite is looking proper," said Iona Duncan-States, who is simply a subordinate of the religion cemetery committee. "The mode it should beryllium looking, for our loved ones."

The 85-year-old African Nova Scotian is besides a deacon with the religion and her mother, father, sister and nephew are buried successful the cemetery.

She visits the graves each Sunday. She said she has noticed deteriorating conditions.

"The crushed is sinking successful spots," she said. "So we bash request to bash a full renovation of the gravesite. It's truly successful hopeless request of repair."

Many members of the Halifax-area assemblage that was founded successful 1813 person household buried there, truthful it means a batch determination is present wealth to reconstruct the grounds.

Part of the assistance volition spell toward helping place immoderate of the unmarked graves astatine the site.

A fig of achromatic crosses person fallen down astatine the religion that has been a cornerstone of the assemblage for astir 200 years.

"To locomotion done the cemetery and spot unmarked graves is benignant of upsetting to maine due to the fact that there's inactive idiosyncratic there," said Josh Crawford, who is the ceremonial manager successful the assemblage and cemetery adjunct chair. "And truthful we're trying to fig retired ways of recognizing who is successful those plots."

Attempts volition beryllium made to place immoderate of the graves done archival probe and by talking to residents. The eventual program is to make a humanities representation of the grounds. 

"And conscionable placing a marker determination to amusement that … idiosyncratic is there," Crawford said.

It's expected enactment volition statesman wrong the adjacent six months.

For much stories astir the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to occurrence stories wrong the Black assemblage — cheque out Being Black successful Canada, a CBC task Black Canadians tin beryllium arrogant of. You tin work much stories here.