4. Catholic Cemetery
1 sound
Citizens went about barricading their houses against the winter chill as quickly as possible.
The grounds were laid out on The Feast of St. Anne, 26 July 1843, by 2000 volunteers. The chapel itself was built on 31 August, and officially blessed and opened on 17 September 1843. The cemetery was moved here from the corner of Spring Garden Road and Grafton Streets. Though called Holy Cross, the original name of the cemetery was Holyrood.
The window can still be seen in the chapel. Our Lady of Sorrows is open for mass every September 15th.
Many survivors report an uncanny silence immediately following the explosion, which was then punctuated by moaning, screaming, and crying, and soon became a constant wail. “Another thing that is worth recording is the absolute silence which immediately followed the explosion as I am told that for several minutes not a wheel turned anywhere.” (See: John W. Regan to Archibald MacMechan, Correspondence, 25 January 1918, #63b, MG1 vol 2124, Archibald MacMechan Fonds, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.)
The city had organized committees, morgue services, hospitals, medical response, and begun sending wounded by train to Truro by the end of the day. While a general sense of chaos continued, especially in hospitals and morgues, relief was organized.
While the city has physically recovered from the explosion, cultural, psychological, and sociological effects are still seen.
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While the events depicted in this walk are true, and we have endeavoured to represent them as factually as possible, it is important to note that the characters are fictional. As such, small details about their personal lives may not be accurate. These characters have been created from the remembrances of real people, and drawn from the communities present in Halifax in December of 1917.
