Pioneer Pergola, St.
Andrew's Park Cemetery
Lansdown Ave
Cambridge (Galt), Ontario
This is a rectangular pergola built by the Waterloo
Chapter of the I.O.D.E. in 1907 to salvage and preserve some of the stones from
the old St.Andrew's Cemetery (on the site) and from the United Presbyterian
Cemetery on High Hill (now Centennial Park). They were being neglected and
broken by vandalism. The best of the stones were used to inlay both sides
of the walls, inside and out, the pillars and the floor, as well as both sides
of the two open ends. The roof is formed of openwork rustic beams.
Other stones from these cemeteries were moved to Mountview Cemetery. Some
were left buried on High Hill to be uncovered years later and carted off by
passers-by to be used as paving stones, garden enhancers or even, in one case,
as a soldering table.
The original recording was done in 1984 by Janet Eberhardt and Norma
Huber. In the fall of 1994, the City of Cambridge had the pergola
dismantled and completely rebuilt. The stones were cleaned and replaced
in their original postion, except for one from the inner west wall (that of
Ronald Wilkinson) which obviously was further broken and ended up in a muddle
of pieces on the floor beneath its original position. Most of the stones
on the walls look well-preserved and surprisingly legible for their age.
The park is situated on the site of the Old St. Andrew's Church on Lansdowne
Avenue, near St. Andrew's Street, in the Galt part of Cambridge.
On the floor at the south entrance:
ERECTED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF THE EMPIRE
GALT 1907
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