Description of Historic Place

The Orser Burial Cemetery is located on a high elevation bordering on the east side of Orser Street across from the Hartland Town Hall. There is no grand entrance except for a steep overgrown path from Orser Street to a flat plateau. To the right of the path is the cemetery. On the plateau are remnants of various shapes and colours of marble and granite grave stones. To the west is a large old pine tree, the only one of its kind on the property. Just to the right of the tree is the large black burial stone of William Orser and his wife, Mary Blake-Craig-Orser, Loyalist founders of the settlement.

Heritage Value

The Orser Burial Cemetery is designated a Local Historic Place for its association with the founders of Hartland, William Orser, and his second wife, Mary Blake-Craig-Orser. William Orser was buried here, near the center of his original land grant which encompasses much of the Town of Hartland. He was a Loyalist from New York who came to Saint John in 1783 and received a land grant for his loyal service in the American Revolution further up the Saint John River at present day Hartland. He died in 1844. William Orser’s second wife, Mary Blake-Craig-Orser, is considered “the first female white English child born on the St. John River”. She is also buried beside him in the Orser Burial Cemetery. A large pine tree shadows the western border of the property. It was a smaller tree in a picture of Hartland dated 1870 in the Provincial Archives (P4-1-21 Ketchum). Folklore states that the pine tree was planted at the head of an unmarked grave of two young children in this cemetery. The oldest grave stone is dated November 23, 1834, Enoch Orser, a child. The Orser's stone reads, “William Orser, Died December 23, 1844” and “Mary Blake-Craig-Orser, Second wife of William Orser, Died, 1856”. The most recent grave marked is 1918. There are no dates of burials after this time.

Source: “Hidden History of Hartland” by Doris Kennedy, located at the Hartland Town Hall’s archives, 31 Orser Street, Hartland, New Brunswick

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Orser Burial Cemetery include:
- undetermined number of unmarked burial sites;
- several randomly-located marble and granite grave stones of various shapes and sizes, dating between 1834 and 1918;
- pioneer cemetery and burial site of William Orser and Mary Blake-Craig-Orser;
- location on a small hill just opposite the entrance to the Hartland Town Hall;
- overgrown path leading to landscaped lawn;
- remnants of white picket fence;
- single, large pine tree on the western border of the cemetery.