A Visit to St. James' Cemetery

Remember last summer and how often our planned walk got rained out? Well this May, we finally held our St. James' Cemetery walk, led by member and past-President, John Wichelow.

We learned about the history of this lovely Gothic Revival Chapel of St.-James-the-Less which was opened in 1861 and remains an important example of this architectural style in Canada.

We toured the cemetery and its eclectic collection of headstones, crypts and statuary, honouring some of Canada's most illustrious characters, including the mausoleum (below), an Egyptian Revival edifice which is the final resting place of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Sir Kazimierz Stanislaus Gzowski (1813 – 1898).

Along the route, the song "Galway Bay" was rendered by several members in homage to William Hume Blake, QC (1809 – 1870), an Irish-Canadian jurist and politician. His ancestors were counted among the Tribes of Galway.

The walk ended just in time. Those of us who ended up in the pub, the House on Parliament got there just as the rain started, and so we rounded out the afternoon with good cheer and beer well into the evening.