Description du lieu patrimonial

The St. Anne's Pioneer Cemetery, located among the pastoral rolling hills of Stanley Bridge, is the resting place for early, mainly Irish, Catholic settlers in the Hope River, St. Anne's and Stanley Bridge area of Prince Edward Island.

Valeur patrimoniale

St. Anne's Pioneer Cemetery is valued for its association with the early Irish, Scottish and Acadian settlers in the Hope River, St. Anne's, and Stanley Bridge area of the province, and for its associations with the early history of the Roman Catholic presence as the Mission of St. Anne, Hope River.

The Mission of St. Anne, Hope River was settled largely by Irish immigrants from the counties of Wexford and Kerry. Patrick Flemming was among the first settling this property in 1816. He married Elizabeth Vincent and in 1822 their children's baptisms were recorded in the records of Rustico's St. Augustine Roman Catholic church. By the 1830s several other Irish families settled nearby including: Cullens and Cannings from Wexford; Harringtons from County Cork; Pendergasts from Kilkenny; Sullivans from Kerry; and Reids from King's County.

The Irish Catholics were served by the Mission of St. Augustine's, which was a fair distance from Hope River. Occasionally they attended Mass at Park Corner. In 1843, a log structure was erected at Hope River. By 1864, the successor church building was removed to a more centrally located place, near the current St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church in Hope River. A succession of buildings were constructed over the years, several lost to natural or other disasters, the current church being the 7th St. Anne's church building.

The cemetery dates from 1858 to 1863, and possibly earlier as the land for the first Mission church was donated by Patrick Flemming in 1819.

Pioneer cemetery survey records in the 1970s indicate the cemetery measures 108' by 95', was surrounded by a two foot dyke and located approximately 105 feet from the road. At that time a wooden cross was visible as well as three grave markers: one, now laid flat, to the memory of Angus, son of Donald and Sarah Fraser, who died in 1858, age 37. A second sandstone marker was dated 1863, and numerous other sandstone markers without names or dates visible in the 1970s have presumably since been removed. Upwards of 100, including some Scottish and Acadians, are thought to be interred here prior to the establishment of the current parish cemetery consecrated in 1865.

Restoration efforts in the 1970s removed the heavy growth of trees, shrubs and grasses. Further work in the early 1980s resulted in the fenced, landscaped cemetery and the construction of a sandstone cairn and bronze plaque dedicated to the final resting place of the early settlers interred here.

The peaceful resting place of some of the province's earliest Irish, Scottish and Acadian families in the Hope River, St. Anne's and Stanley Bridge area, St. Anne's Pioneer Cemetery is an important landmark commemorating the early Roman Catholic settlers of this area.

Source: Heritage Places files, Dept. of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport & Culture, Charlottetown, PE
File #: 4310-20/S48

Éléments caractéristiques

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

- The well maintained landscaped and fenced pioneer cemetery property
- The 1858 grave marker for Angus Fraser, son of Donald and Sarah Fraser
- The Island sandstone cairn and bronze plaque commemorating the Irish, Scottish and Acadian settlers of the St. Anne's Mission
- The peaceful, picturesque pastoral setting of the cemetery located in the rolling hills of Stanley Bridge