To check out "Can you solve the mystery?"
Click Here

Project Outline

This site was created as a component of the course History 300 "A Cultural and Intellectual History of Canada" taught by Professor Laurie Stanley-Blackwell at St. Francis Xavier University during 2000-2001. The main objectives of this project were to make history "come alive" for students and to introduce them to cemeteries as "outdoor museums" and "historical documents". By "reading the stones", students glimpsed into the lives of the people of the past, into their cemetery symbology, burial customs, attitudes towards death, ethnic traditions, aesthetic tastes, artistic skills and class values. Students in History 300 were organized into teams of three persons and were assigned a selection of tombstones in Antigonish cemeteries. The following students participated in this project: David Algee, Heather Anderson, Jonathan Cumminger, Krista Farrell, Connie Feltmate, Janley Grant, Mandi Hayne, Peter Hill, Catherine Hirbour, Chad Leblanc, Andrew MacDonald, Lindsay MacDonald, and Irene Yorke.

Professor Stanley-Blackwell launched the project and supervised all phases of its development from initiation to completion. She collaborated initially with Jamie Symonds who masterminded the preliminary design for the website. The current design was conceived and implemented by Brandon Kolybaba, a third-year BIS student at St. Francis Xavier University. The interactive features owe much to his technical expertise and imagination. This web site was also realized with the generous assistance of Marie T. Gillis who helped with the research and photography. Jocelyn Gillis, curator of the Antigonish Heritage Museum, also made an invaluable contribution to the site, with her knowledge of local lore and archival sources.