Description

– Located on Mississauga Street at the corner of Mary Street, Niagara-on-the-lake. A plaque erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historical Sites Board acknowledges:  NEGRO BURIAL GROUND 1830 Here stood a Baptist church erected in 1830 through the exertions of a former British soldier,  John Oakley, who although white, became pastor of a predominately negro congregation. In 1793 Upper Canada has passed an act forbidding further introduction of slaves and freeing the children of chose in the colony at twenty-five. This was the first legislation of its kind in the British Empire. A long tradition of tolerance attracted slaves to Niagara, many of whom are buried here.”

This document includes 3 known gravestone transcriptions at this site (WESLEY, OAKLEY). (1998, re-printed 2020)