Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Fairview Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a Canadian cemetery that is perhaps best known as the final resting place for over one hundred victims of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Officially know as "Fairview Lawn Cemetery", the non-denominational cemetery is run by the Parks Department of the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Location

Fairview Lawn Cemetery is located in the North End of Halifax at the Northern End of Windsor Street. It is bordered by the Saint John Anglican cemetery on one side and the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery on another.

History

A blockhouse was built at the site of the cemetery in the 1750s to protect Halifax from Mi'kmaq attacks. The land was subsequently developed as small farms. In 1893, the land was acquired by a private company, the Fairview Lawn Cemetery Limited for a non-denominational cemetery as the Camp Hill Cemetery in the centre of the city was running out of room. The city of Halifax took over the cemetery in 1944. [Ruffman, Alan "Titanic Remembered: The Unsinkable ship and Halifax" (1999) Halifax: Formac Publishing] Fairview contains a cross section of Halifax's 20th century residents including a mass grave of victims from the Halifax Explosion and many individual graves from Explosion.

Titanic victims

One hundred and twenty-one victims of the RMS Titanic sinking are interred at Fairview, more than any other cemetery in the world. Most of those interred are memoralized with a small gray granite marker including their name and date of death. Some families paid for larger markers with more inscriptions. About a third of the graves, however, have never been identified and their marker contains just their date of death and marker number. Surveyor E. W. Christie laid out three long lines of graves in gentle curves following the contors of the site. By co-incidence, the shape suggests the outline of the bow of a ship. [Beed, Blair "Titanic Victims in Halifax Graveyards" (2001) Halifax: Dtours, page 89.] A complete listing of those victims buried in Fairview can be found [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/victims_graves.php?angle=Fairview+Lawn here] .

, an English child who perished with his entire family. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-07-31-canada-titanic-boy_N.htm Canadians identify child aboard Titanic - USATODAY.com ] ]

A grave marked "J. Dawson" gained infamy following the release of the 1997 film "Titanic", since the name of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the film was Jack Dawson. Through some forensic investigation, however, the grave was discovered to belong to an Irish crew member named Joseph Dawson. Some think that, though this isn't Jack Dawson, director James Cameron thought of the character's name from this grave.

Twenty-nine other Titanic victims are also buried in Halifax; nineteen in the Roman Catholic Mount Olivet Cemetery and ten in the Jewish Baron de Hirsch Cemetery.

"See also:" List of other famous cemeteries

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=639380&CScn=Fairview&CScntry=10& Find a Grave Profile for Fairview Cemetery]

References