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Nova Scotia Halifax The Old Burying Ground 
Located at the intersection of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road, close to St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, Halifax, the Old Burying Ground was the town's first place of burials. Established in 1749 - the same year that Halifax was founded - it contains the graves of more than 12,000 people, including many early settlers, military personnel, and notable figures from the 18th and 19th centuries, including Major General Robert Ross, who led the British troops in the Battle of Bladensburg and the burning of Washington during the War of 1812. It was General Ross who led the successful Washington Raid of 1814 and burned the White House before being killed in battle at Baltimore a few days later. Initially, the Burial Ground was non-denominational and was the only burial place in Halifax for several decades, although in 1793, it was turned over to the Anglican St. Paul's Church, so is also referred to as St. Paul’s Cemetery due to its historical management by that Church. The cemetery was closed to new burials in 1844, following the establishment of the Camp Hill Cemetery. Subsequently, the site declined until the 1980s when it was restored and refurbished by the Old Burying Ground Foundation, which now maintains the site. It was declared a Municipal Heritage site in 1986, a Provincial Heritage Property in 1988, and designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1991. Today there are about 1,200 headstones, some having been lost and many internments occurred with no headstone.  At the entrance stands the Welsford-Parker Monument, the last erected and most prominent burial marker in the cemetery. Built in 1860 it commemorates two Nova Scotians killed in the Crimean War, Major Augustus Frederick Welsford and Captain William Buck Carthew Augustus Parker, both of whom died fighting for the British at the Battle of the Great Redan during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855). This is the first public monument built in Nova Scotia and is the fourth oldest war monument in Canada. 
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All Photographs were taken by and are copyright of Ron Gatepain
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