City
Toronto's Forgotten Landmarks: St. Michael's Cemetery
Few would suspect that hidden behind the business towers and store-fronts just West of Yonge and St. Clair in downtown Toronto is a 10-acre cemetery. Closed off to the public, this haunting location is accessible only through private household gates, where the owners are frequently seen walking their dogs through the grounds.
The land itself was consecrated in 1855 due to the massive death tolls of Irish immigrants coming to Toronto because of the Potato Famine, many of whom quickly succumbed to their Typhus-related illnesses. When a Bishop bought this Yonge Street property, the parishioners of St. Michael's were upset, as they saw the cemetery as being too far outside of Toronto - more than a little ironic given the subsequent city development.
Tens of thousands of bodies were buried here, Toronto's oldest Catholic Cemetery. A man walking 2 beautiful hounds on the grounds approached me and a friend while we were snapping some pictures, and asked if we had found the oldest gravestone yet - I gave him what I thought to be the correct answer, which turned out off by some 30-odd years.
Before parting, the gentleman pointed to a small stone building in the North-East corner, informing us that it was designed by a Joseph Sheard as a mortuary vault, to store dead bodies in the winter until they could be buried in the spring. Mr. Sheard would subsequently become Mayor of Toronto.
I have been visiting this quiet space for some time now, but I always experience it anew after a walk through the trees at its northern edge...
The trees become an unreal hallway, a passage...
There is a cluster of small cross grave-markers which represent the burial spot of an entire order of nuns...
Thus far, I have implemented a series of abnormal 'shot' styles, ranging from ultra-wide, to infrared. In the next two, I used a somewhat oblique combination of digital-macro and 126mm to try and capture the particular 'mood' of the place. The subject matter is already so emotionally charged in a place such as this, that it almost seems necessary to step outside of the bounds of natural photography in order to capture the experience, no matter how many rules one breaks...
Towers, living and dead...
I was fortunate enough, on one of my visits (wintertime), to encounter a deep fog settling about the place; nothing quite confuses the senses as much as this wonderful phenomenon...
I cannot help but smile whenever I am at the busy intersection of Yonge and St. Clair, knowing the secret that lies just behind the glass and concrete foreground structures. It is a little piece of Heav'n on earth, a silent park of the dead, a solitude which can only accompany death, closed off from the public eye.
(If you want to see the rest of the shots from this ominous site, or high-res versions of those above, you can see my flickr slide-show below.)
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/sniderscion/sets/72157620879769251/
Catherine: 2 sides of it are bordered by beautiful old houses, most of which have a private gate leading directly to it - they are all very nice people - although there is a fairly prominent 'no dog walking' sign ; P
jonathan@blogTO
My mother offered me and my wife plots there just a year after our wedding! She inherited these, but since that isn't where my father's buried... I don't know that it's closed, but all the plots are most likely sold.
jonathan@blogTO
So does your post.
jonathan@blogTO
There used to be tributes left all over the cemetery come St. Patrick's Day. I recall one note, left on the gate: "Dear Souls..."
People were trying to discourage the dog-owners back then, as there were many and not all were respectful.
I love cemeteries, I will have to check this one out next time I'm the area.
Kendra: thanks! I haven't seen you in a while-
shannon: indeed it is. Resist the urge to use the tiny gravestone right nearby as a 'step' though ; P
jonathan@blogTO
jonathan"blogTO.com
http://www.irelandparkfoundation.com/index.php
I know the park well, as it is right behind a favorite building of mine : )
jonathan@blogTO
jonathan@blogTO
*laughs* wait, was that pun on purpose?
... on the up vs downtown
I used to have a teacher who said anything north of Eglinton wasn't Toronto. Now that I live south of Bloor, I tend to agree.
My other rule is that if it's bike-able it's pretty much downtown. And St. Clair isn't that far north.
Great article. I had no idea this place existed. Thanks, Jonathan!
They died as infants, John Sweeney and Cornelius Sweeney. I phoned several years ago and one day a wekk the gates are open to the public when the grounds keeper cuts the grass and tends to the shubs.
Donna
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