Cemetery facts, updates & changes

Cardwell Cemetery Ltd,

Address: 12235, Rt 114, Penobsquis ,NB E4G2Y1

Operating dates: May1 -Nov 15 th

Burials: No winter burials

Contact Info: Phone: 506-433-5147 (Paul Murray)

Email: nbcommish@gmail.com

Problems: Raising funds, investment interest is non-existent, lot sales are slow

Staffing: mowing is contracted yearly by tender. Small group of volunteers do spring and fall lot

Maintenance: Monument Man is contracted to repair headstones.

Grounds: Grounds are in good shape, need a few headstones realigned/straightened.

Awards & Media: No awards or media attention

Other: like reading the problems and solutions that other rural cemeteries have, appreciate the work that the

Association has done, must make an effort to attend Association meetings.

Dalhousie Riverview

Operating - May 1 - October 31

Contact Information - Ruth Dickie, (506) 684-2667

Seasonal Groundskeeper

Problem - many old trees threatening our very old, delicate monuments in wind storms

Solution - we received grants for 2 consecutive years to hire an arborist to cut down and remove trees. The grants came from the NB Regional Development Corporation - Community Investment Fund, more needs to be done. I recommend applying for grants for cemetery improvements.

Awards/Media - Although we have not received any awards or media attention, we have several notable persons buried at Riverview including war heroes and Members of Parliament. Information about them is provided in a booklet entitled "Stones by the River" compiled by William Clarke, a local historian who is also deceased.

Dear Association of New Brunswick Cemeteries,

Ron Romano

Curious Gravestones in Northern New England (2022)

Billboard Monuments of Maine (2020)

Portland’s Historic Eastern Cemetery (2017)

Early Gravestones in Southern Maine (2016)

Are There “Billboard Monuments” in New Brunswick?

Be on the lookout for these rare gravemarkers!

By Ron Romano

A curious form of grave marker was produced in the US New England states in the mid-1800s. Usually consisting of large, oblong marble slabs held above ground on granite posts, these monuments resemble those large roadside signboards familiar to most and led me to the name “billboard monuments.”

I noticed them near my home in southern Maine while canvassing the area’s early cemeteries for a book I was writing about our first resident gravestone maker. A second book about Portland’s original burying ground further delayed my search for more billboards, but—with the help of prowling members of the Maine Old Cemetery Association—I'd documented three dozen in the state by 2019. I then presented my research at the Association for Gravestone Studies annual conference, held that same year in North Carolina. The response was enthusiastic. Attended by gravestone enthusiasts from around the US (and Canada!), most said they’d never seen anything like them in their local cemeteries. Still, I returned home with leads for two in Vermont. I also decided that I had enough material for a book.

,I’m a cemetery historian and gravestone researcher from Portland Maine. A few years back I “discovered” an unusual form of gravestone, produced only from the 1830s to 1880s. They usually consist of large oblong marble slabs elevated off the ground on granite posts. Many variations exist, but that’s the basic form. Because they reminded me of those large oblong highway or roadway signs, I named them “Billboard Monuments,” and that name has seemed to become the accepted one among US taphophiles. After identifying 38 in Maine, I wrote a book about them…then 4 more were discovered as a result of the book. After criss-crossing the northern New England states a few times last year I found 4 in New Hampshire and 27 in Vermont. With 3 in western Massachusetts, it brings the regional total to 76.

So I’m writing to see if you recall ever seeing any of these in New Brunswick’s old cemeteries, or if you have a newsletter or website that we might put out a brief description that describes them and asks if anyone’s seen them in New Brunswick? With easy border crossings in the 1800s and the itinerant nature of many stone-cutters and marble workers, I’m hopeful that some Maine makers headed to Canada and made a few of these while there.As a result of the Vermont and New Hampshire monuments, I wrote a Volume 2. I’m hoping to find enough others to produce a third volume — so if there are any in Atlantic Canada I’d love to include them. (I’m similarly reaching out to the other provinces of Atlantic Canada to search).To help you visualize these rare monuments, here are a few photos, and the covers of the two volumes. I’ve written and presented on these monuments quite extensively here in the states and happy to provide other documents or photos if you’d like to see them.

Many thanks for reading this, and hopefully we’ll identify a billboard monument (or more!) in NB…Ron RomanoCurious Gravestones in Northern New England (2022)Billboard Monuments of Maine (2020)Portland’s Historic Eastern Cemetery (2017)Early Gravestones in Southern Maine (2016)roroman@maine.rr.comPhotos are: covers of both volumes (the monument shown on volume 1 is in the Penobscot River Valley - near Bangor Maine — and the other one is in Irasburg Vermont, quite close to the Canadian border).The large white marble billboard with the scalloped top and masons symbols is over 7 feet long and weighs 450 pounds. Located in Yarmouth MaineThe one with the granite capstone is one of a dozen found only in the northeast of Vermont — most likely from one shop or a small group of stonecutters who created this unique designthe one with the large chunky granite posts is inscribed on two sides and found in Livermore Falls, Maine

“Billboard Monuments of Maine” was published in the spring of 2020; soon after, more sightings were reported in the region. Four more were found in Maine, followed by reports of billboards in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I’ve criss-crossed northern New England to find more and now have documented 76 monuments in the region: 42 in Maine, 27 in Vermont, 4 in New Hampshire, and 3 in Massachusetts. This led to a second volume on billboards, “Curious Gravestones in Northern New England,” which was released earlier this year.Not all billboards take exactly the same form of marble slabs elevated on granite posts; a few slabs are slate, soapstone, and limestone, while some posts are marble or metal. Billboard monuments were produced only in the mid-1800s; the earliest known was dated 1834 by its maker. But the majority were from the 1840s through the 1860s; by the turn of the twentieth century this design, even though rarely ever used, had fallen out of favor, along with marble (replaced then with granite) and hand-lettering (replaced by machines). While this type of monument was often used to memorialize multiple members of a family who had died within a short period, a couple of them name only one person.

We know that the stonecutters of the 1800s followed the work, and gravestones carved by some of Maine’s nineteenth-century stonecutters are definitely found in cemeteries of the Atlantic Provinces. It leads to the question about billboard monuments. Might one of the New England monument makers travelled to New Brunswick around 1850-1860 and left a billboard monument behind? That four New England states have 76 of these rare monuments leaves open that possibility (…and border crossings were far easier 175 years ago than today)

.So, as you roam the historic cemeteries of New Brunswick, be on the lookout for these unusual gravestones. If you know of one, or have questions about them, please contact me at roroman@maine.rr.com

Ron Romano is author of four cemetery- and gravestone-themed books. He is an officer on the board of the Association for Gravestone Studies, the leading organization in America for cemetery and gravestone studies. He’s designed and leads tours at a dozen historic cemeteries in southern Maine.