Niagara-On-The-Lake

A wonderful trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake took the unseasonable cold right out of our minds today. Well, almost, anyhow. We were researching Butler's Rangers, a Loyalist regiment who fought in the American Revolutionary War on the side of the king. I am directly descended from one of these men, which fact makes this history pretty personal.




We visited Butler's Barracks but were not able to get inside.





Then we found the John Butler Burial Ground and were disappointed to see how ill kept it is and that one of the crypts has been changed. When I was there a few years ago, one of the attractions was a tomb which had steps down to the actual door which was below ground level. Imagine our surprise upon finding the steps have been totally filled in and all that remains is a small piece of the top of the tomb which remains above the grass. That there is a tomb there is not at all evident and this saddens me. How much of our past are we prepared to lose? Below are the remaining grave markers for the burying ground.





The bright spot in all this was a leaflet I found in the local museum which asks for donations towards "Saving Colonel John Butler'. Hopefully this campaign will be successful.


In the meantime I will content myself with reading and making notes on "The Capital Years: Niagara-on-the-Lake" which is the story of this town as the capital of Upper Canada (Ontario) from 1792-1796. I find this research extremely interesting from that personal history point of view and also for some writing which I am doing.