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Unknown Cemetery near former Howard's Bridge
Unknown Cemetery passing right underneath of old Hwy 2
Near Kent Bridge
North of Longwoods Road
42.52943° 42.52967°
82.04499° 82.04460°
South of Longwoods Road
42.52962° 42.52986°
82.04519° 82.04475°
This MIGHT be what seemed to be known as the Howard's Bridge Cemetery. See Link.
About 1.5 km back toward Thamesville from Kent Bridge is a spot where the river swings right next to Longwood's Road. There is a small narrow strip of sodded land there next to where the old road used to travel. The road was moved from closer to the river from it's present location we think around 1955 - 1960. About the middle of the area where the river is close to the road there is the remains of a relatively old cemetery. It would have sat on the North side of the road at that time, but when the road was moved, it in turn went right through it, bisecting it almost down the middle. At what is now the back of the cemetery is a communal burial area of some sort. Potter's Field maybe? At the Northern Corner of the cemetery heading toward the river is a relatively large area of burial of babies. Why would the Potter's Field (Group burial area) be located near the front of the cemetery and not the back if the road was originally on the South side of the cemetery? Could this mean that at some point before that the road was on the North side? All of this is total conjecture. There is absolutely NO documentation at all of the road actually having been on the North side at one point.
The Old Unknown Cemetery near Howard's Bridge
near Kent Bridge
On the river side, the cemetery now goes almost TO the river and MIGHT have in part been destroyed by it but in the case of this cemetery we believe that the remains still are safe from erosion. The cemetery extends under the road, and on the other side it ends very close to the beginning of the grass on the edge of the road way. It does not go under the drainage ditch for the road on the North side.
We do know that the first bridge in this area was "Howard Bridge", and there was a small community of around 40 people lived right there. Documentation apparently mentions a cemetery there. But that community is on the South side of the river rather than the North side. So why would a community have a cemetery on the North side of the river?
The following documentation is from the Thamesville Herald, 24 March 2012. (We are waiting to be able to ask for a direct quote.)
In 1846 the Government straightened Longwoods Road but the Tavern remained (Howard side ... the stage coach tavern) [in that the stage coach used to travel the Howard side of the Thames until the Longwoods Road was straightened)
It was "Captain Jack" who took up residence in that tavern (Howard Twp.)
and buried in the Howard's Inn Community's cemetery.
At the moment little (or really nothing) is known of this cemetery. It was found totally by mistake. A chance finding and nothing more. Since the road way has pretty much destroyed the ground surface above it, it is very unlikely that any monuments exist from it. It may well have been considered to be "Moved". However, experience tells us in these cases that it was generally not possible to move all bodies, and it is indeed very likely that those in the back Communal area are still there. Infant's remains decay quickly, so it is unlikely that any of those still exist. There are almost guaranteed to be some remains still interred here. And from what we know at the moment there is a VERY good chance that all remains are still located there.
Please stay tuned for further details.