A walk in the past

Last Sunday, I participated in a tour of Greenwood Cemetery. About 70 people enjoyed the beautiful first day of fall to visit our local cemetery. Our knowledgable guide, Jill McFadden-Bartley, from the Billy Bishop Home and Museum and the Owen Sound & Marine Rail Museum told us stories about the many monuments that we saw. This one is of the Williams family. What is fascinating about this monument is that although it looks like a cut off tree, it is actually made of stone.

Near the end of the one and half hour tour, the group stopped at a MacKay family monument. Jill had prepared a recorded story as if told by Flora MacKay, the mother of the family. Many from this area earned their livelihood from sailing the Great Lakes. The Mackay family was one of these. The story was very moving as we heard of the anxiety of Flora when her sons and husband were at sea. Son Norman lost his life with the sinking of the Hibou on November 21, 1936.

For those interested in learning more The Scanner magazine article on the Hibou gives information on the Ship.

Those interested in Marine History may want to check the Table of Contents pages for the first 8 Volumes of The Scanner, published by the Toronto Marine Historical Society. The table of contents are hyperlinked to the articles that are scanned images of the pages. An up-to-date list of the Ships of the Month from this magazine is available in .pdf format

Greenwood Cemetery is open during daylight hours. It a great place to walk and to explore the past of this community.