On September 29th, 2023, Municipal Heritage Committee members and Town Staff were taken on a tour of the Pioneer Cemetery in Southampton.
At that time, the tour led by the Town’s Colin Saunders, Manager Capital Projects and Steve MacLean, Cemetery Manager, trekked along the bank of the Saugeen River where they saw that erosion has, and is, playing havoc with burial sites. They learned that, in 2014-15, approximately 300 feet of river bank had been lost to erosion.
They also learned that, prior to 2005, approximately 20 markers were moved to the Cemetery Mausoleum, as they were in danger of going over the bank. While the Bereavement Association of Ontario (BAO) has very strict regulations when it comes to moving internment sites, if some are not moved, they will end up in the Saugeen River and be lost forever.
Many of the burial sites now in question are those of the families who were the founders of the community – names such as McLeod, Scott and many others, entire early pioneer families of Southampton.
In 2014, Fischer Archeological was retained to conduct an archeological background study of the old Pioneer Cemetery. The report had recommendations based on the relocation of the burial sites in danger of erosion. The recommendations from this study were sent to the Ministry of Culture for approval. The Ministry did not however, approve the report based on one (1) of the recommendations, which was to do nothing.
Doing nothing will ensure that these ‘people’ buried in Pioneer Cemetery will certainly go over the bank into the river.
Saunders, who joined the Town in 2019 and who was tasked with the project to determine what could be done moving forward, set up site meetings with the BAO, Fischer Archeological, Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA), the Ministry, and the Cemetery Manager.
After the representative from the Ministry saw first-hand the complexity of the situation, the Ministry, in fact, approved moving forward.
GM BluePlan was retained as the engineer and GEI consultants as the Geotechnical firm and test holes were drilled on September 25, 2023. From these, along with the historical reports, GEI would then be able to determine the projected rate of erosion.
According to Saunders at the time of the tour, the relocation of sites could be completed over several years, starting with the sites most at risk and moving inward, depending on the rate of erosion as determined by the engineers.
Staff anticipated the site work and pre-relocation work would start in 2024, with the physical work beginning in 2025.
This is now 2025 and, as with any major project involving ground excavation, there is a narrow window of time due to weather. As determined in 2023, this is a very complex issue but one that should be on a list of priorities.
