Description of Historic Place

This small cemetery is located on the east side of the Trans-Canada Highway in Tryon between the intersections of Route 232 and Route 10. The site is now part of the adjacent former Tryon Baptist Church property and contains three visible headstones.

Heritage Value

The site is valued for its association with the history of the former Tryon Christian Church.

Tryon Christian Church was located on this property from 1875 to 1910. The church is shown on the 1880 map of the area in Meacham's Atlas of PEI. According to the 1891 Census, the congregation comprised around 50 members. However, within twenty years, the church closed. The Christian Church denomination continues to flourish in Summerside. Tryon familes associated with the church included: Callbeck, Crawford, Lord, Leard, Delaney, McKinnon, Quigley, Bell, Cameron, Francis, Large, and Welsh.

The building was later used as a school and then was sold to Angus MacDonald around 1912. He used it as a barn after he had lost his to fire. The Christian Church used the money ($300) from the sale to erect a new parsonage for their Summerside church.

No cemetery records for the former church survived, but it is believed there were at least fourteen interments. Many stones were laid flat at some point between 1950 to 1990. Only three of these are now legible (Lord, McKinnon, and Quigley) and these are arranged in a row adjacent to the driveway. The others are no longer visible and are buried in the front section of the property.

As of 2018 local Christian Church Cemetery Restoration Committee has undertaken to have the remaining stones uprighted and placed on new bases and have erected a sign for the cemetery. Following the realignment of the Trans-Canada Highway in Tryon and the relocation of the former Tryon Baptist Church, now privately owned, the cemetery now forms part of the former Tryon Baptist Church property.

Source: PEI Heritage Places Files, PEI Department of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
File #: 4310-20/P6

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the cemetery is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the location of the cemetery adjacent to the former Tryon Baptist Church
- the location of the property in the rural community of Tryon
- the three remaining headstones, now uprighted and on bases, and the potential for others buried on the site
- the "Tryon Christian Church Cemetery" sign