Brant Railway Heritage Society brought 20 guests along a heritage walking tour of the Mount Pleasant Pioneer Cemetery on Sunday, October 5, 2025.
Designated in 2006 for its historical and cultural significance, the cemetery was established in 1802 on land granted by Joseph Brant as a public burying ground.
During the event, the group was taken on a guided tour throughout the oldest parts of the cemetery while stopping at the graves of the community’s historical pioneers who helped shape the village, the County of Brant and Canada as well.
Along the way, some stops featured costumed interpreters, including a few who were descendants of those buried in the Mount Pleasant Pioneer Cemetery.
Brian Wood, the walk’s guide, began by telling the group about the United Empire Loyalists, American colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution and later settled in Canada after the war.
“In the cemetery, you are going to see small black plaques low to the ground,” he said. “Now, those indicate someone who was a United Empire Loyalist, some of whom we will be talking about today, because this is very much designated as a United Empire Loyalist cemetery.”
Wood then stopped at a monument dedicated to the pioneers and early settlers of the area. The monument was erected in 1931 by the descendants of the families.
Guests then stopped to learn about Arthur Sturgis Hardy and his parents, Herbert Biggar, Rev. John Bryning, Rev. George Pardon Bryce, Captain Thomas Perrin, Esther Hill Phelps (her descendent Linda Guest, spoke about her three-time great-grandmother), the McAlister family, Mary Phelps Mussen, William Winer Cooke (who fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn), Allan Wallace Ellis (whose general store received one of the first long-distance phone calls), Dr. Emily Howard Jennings Stowe and her daughter, Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen, who was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Canada.
During that time, the attendees learned different details of several of Mount Pleasant’s pioneer families and their roles within the community, their achievements, and their involvement in past wars and battles.
After finishing up the tour with a quick anecdote about the temperance use of alcohol and zinc grave markers, guests headed over to the Mount Pleasant Community Centre for snacks and refreshments, and to learn more about the historic figures.
Later, County Councillor Christine Garneau, who is also a rural historian, said that while she’s been on the tour once before, she enjoyed learning more about those who had a part in developing the village.
“It’s wonderful to see the community bring to life some of the figures from our history who are buried in the cemetery,” she said. “I’ve noticed that one of the themes with Culture Days and some of the other heritage tours that we’ve been on in the past month, has been about the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-38. It’s interesting because as much as the county has many rural communities, they all have a lot of shared experiences and I thought the cemetery was a great way of bringing those stories to life today.”
Garneau said that one of the facts she found particularly interesting was that of Dr. Emily Howard Jennings Stowe and her daughter, Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen.
“I think one of the neatest pieces of information was about Dr. Stowe being the first woman to legally practice medicine in Canada,” she said. “Then to hear that her daughter was the first woman to earn her medical degree was really quite interesting too. I also didn’t realize that Arthur Sturgis Hardy actually grew up in Mount Pleasant either so I have to thank all the volunteers from the Railway Heritage Society for their efforts today and for keeping the awareness in the community.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
