Description of Historic Place

The Gorge Cemetery is a small cemetery located on rolling terrain in a rural setting in the northern portion of Moncton. The land is sparsely populated with fewer than fifty tombstones and markers. The earliest interment appears to have occurred in 1862, with limited interment continuing to this day.

Heritage Value

The Gorge Cemetery is designated a Local Historic Place for its age, for its representation of rural cemeteries in New Brunswick and for its association with members of the families interred there.

Although the land used for the cemetery and the associated Gorge United Baptist Church was officially deeded to the church in 1872, interment appears to have begun with an 8-month-old child in 1862. The area that was known as the Gorge was located in the larger farming community of the Lutes Mountain Settlement. Many of New Brunswick’s oldest burial grounds are in rural settings such as this, away from civic centres. This trend is representative of the need for rural communities to address their own spiritual needs. After the rural cemetery movement began in New England in the 1930’s, cemeteries became places of emotional reflection and connection with those who passed before. The non-linear placement of the grave sites and the pastoral setting of the cemetery on a knoll reflect this idea.

The Gorge Cemetery is recognized for its association with the families that are interred there. An area farmer, Isaac N. Wilbur, officially deeded land in 1872 to the Free Christian Baptist General Conference, including Gorge Church which had been erected by Mr. Wilbur not long before this time. The land was also to be used to establish a formal burial ground. The transfer of the deed appears, then, to have been a formality, serving to officially document the ongoing generosity of Mr. Wilbur to the citizens of the Gorge. The majority of the visible grave stones and ground markers are for members of the Wilbur family and that of a neighbouring family, the Groundwaters, many of whom served as deacons, trustees and clerks for the church. Among the other family names on tombstones dating from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century are those of the founders of the Gorge Church, now part of Hillside United Baptist Church. Today, it appears as though interments are limited to descendents of families already interred in the cemetery, including Alfred Edward Wilbur, who was interred in 1996.

Source: Moncton Museum, 20 Mountain Road, Moncton, New Brunswick, Historic Places File “Gorge Cemetery”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements related to the Gorge Cemetery include:
- pastoral rural setting atop a rolling knoll in the Lutes Mountain area of Moncton;
- proximity to the former Gorge United Baptist Church;
- visible tombstones and ground markers of a variety of ages and materials, the oldest dating back to 1862;
- tombstones of many of the family members who settled this area and established the church;
- the gravesite of Isaac N. Wilbur.