Description of Historic Place

The Tusket Cemetery occupies a large lot of land facing onto Highway #3 in Tusket, NS, overlooking the Tusket River. The original lot of land designated for a burying ground in the village has been added to a number of times over the years. The original lot and all subsequent additions to it are included in the designation.

Heritage Value

The Tusket Cemetery is valued for its age, its dramatic setting and its connection with the early settlers of Tusket.

The settlement of the village of Tusket took place in the year 1784 when the first Loyalist families arrived in the place. The original grant of the village, which was confirmed in 1809, set off Lot no.4, consisting of 3.5 acres for a burying ground. This is a high, elevated lot, with a spectacular view of the Tusket River. All of Tusket’s early settlers were buried here from the time of settlement, and many Protestant settlers from surrounding communities were brought here for burial as well. Sometime around 1813 the first Baptist Meeting House was also built on this property. It served the community for some 120 years or more before it was demolished. No church has occupied the property since. The cemetery has always been considered non-denominational.

Early records for burials here do not exist, but the cemetery was formally incorporated by legislation in 1873, and since that time formal burial records have been maintained.

The presence of this cemetery also preserves one of most attractive views in Yarmouth County as a public space and a green space within Tusket.

Source: Argyle Municipal Heritage Files, file #010

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Tusket Cemetery include:

- high elevated lot overlooking the Tusket River;
- a variety of mortuary monuments ranging from the early nineteenth century onward;
- inscribed granite fieldstone maker of Squire James Lent, one of the founding settlers;
- purple slate gravestones from the nineteenth century ;
- stonewall marking the roadside boundary of the cemetery;
- curving roadway which leads from the highway up through the centre of the cemetery.