The Union Cemetery

Located in an area known as Vinegar Hill in the North-east and oldest part of the village, the Union Cemetery contains over 800 monuments erected as memorials to early pioneers. A village school house was built on part of the property in 1827 and used by the Methodists on Sunday morning and the Presbyterians in the afternoon. The name Union Cemetery originates from another joint venture between the two churches when they agreed to share the cost of maintaining a burial ground in the village.

The cemetery property was purchased from E.C. Griffin by George Bush in 1843, but it was almost certainly in use before this transaction occurred as over a dozen stones date from the 1830s and Griffin’s name appears on the original cemetery plan which is undated. In 1846 this property at the end of William Street was transferred to the Trustees of the Waterdown Chapel and in 1849 another plot was sold by Absolom Griffin, a prosperous mill owner and brother of E.C. Griffin to the Trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

On January 1, 1877, the Trustees sold the cemetery property for $400 to the Waterdown Cemetery Company with the deed naming the property as The Waterdown Burying Grounds.

As one enters by the old-fashioned, hand-made turnstile and goes to the north-west section, one can find monuments dating from the 1830s. Names of many pioneers families are to be found on tombstones together with that of Dr. J.O. McGregor, who for over 50 years was a much-loved family physician in Waterdown. This well kept and tree-filled cemetery is owned and managed by the Cemetery Board of Waterdown and is still in use today.