Stories rich in history lay buried at the Barrie Union Cemetery in the city’s north end.
And Barrie’s town crier, Steve Travers, wants to share them with you.
Travers is leading a tour of the cemetery on Sunday at 1 p.m., where he plans to tell stories from the city’s past through the people who are buried there.
“It’s not a ghost tour,” warns Travers, quick to distinguish this tour from others that he gives of Barrie’s downtown area. “It’s an historic tour of the graves of the amazing pioneer Barrietes who came in the 1800s and populated our incredible town before it was a city.”
Travers is offering the tour for free, keen to share what his research has found.
He will tell the story of the man who brought electricity to Barrie.
Then there’s the sister of a former prime minister who called Barrie home until her death in 1962.
“And there she is buried in the Union Cemetery here in Barrie,” he says.
He’ll also take visitors to the grave of a sports figure and others who created great wealth for following generations, some of which, he says, still call the area home.
There are also babies and children who died young of illnesses such as cholera, diphtheria, tuberculosis and polio.
And, occasionally, there are current stories. Travers happened upon four ladies celebrating their mom on Mother’s Day.
Travers said his research relied upon the help of knowledgeable people at the cemetery, in the community as well as the Simcoe County Archives.
