Description of Historic Place

42nd Highland Memorial Cemetery consists of a cemetery on the shore of the Nashwaak River in the community of Pleasant Valley.

Heritage Value

42nd Highland Memorial Cemetery is designated a Provincial Historic Site to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers to the Nashwaak Valley area.

42nd Highland (Black Watch) Regiment was a United Empire Loyalist regiment that was granted land on the Nashwaak River after service in the Revolutionary War. This section of the Nashwaak Valley, named Pleasant Valley by the “Forty Seconders” was settled between 1784 –1787. Approximately 100 members of the Regiment made their way from Halifax to settle here. The cemetery, established in 1784, is the final resting place for a number of veterans of the 42nd Highland Regiment and their families. In 1967, the Black Watch [RHR] of Canada erected a commemorative cairn.

Source: Department Wellness, Culture and Sport, Heritage Branch, Site File #12710-2, 12875-3/D – 30 (Vol III).

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe 42nd Highland Memorial Cemetery include:
- rural, river edge context;
- grounds and monuments of the cemetery;
- cairn erected in 1967 by the Black Watch [RHR] of Canada.