Formal Recognition Type

Municipal Heritage Building, Structure or Land

Heritage Value

Upper Gullies United Church Cemetery has been designated a municipal heritage site by the Town of Conception Bay South because of its historic, aesthetic and spiritual value.

Upper Gullies United Church Cemetery has historic value for its age and long association with the United Church, formerly the Methodist Church. The oldest recorded death date in the cemetery is 1897 but the use of the land can be dated back to at least 1886. On May 20th of that year a deed was struck between Thomas Spry of St. John’s and the Rev. George J. Bond, President of the Methodist Conference of the Island of Newfoundland. Spry sold the land to the Methodist Church for “the sum of one dollar well and truly paid in the currency of said island.” The first structure built on the land may have been a small meeting house, which was later replaced by a church measuring approximately 4 metres by 6 metres. Said to be the first church in “The Gullies,” this building was also reportedly used as a school for a short time. The church was torn down in the early 1940s but traces of its rock foundation are still visible in the cemetery.

The cemetery has further historic value because its headstones contain historic and genealogical type information, and because they may be considered artifacts on the community’s landscape. The gravemarkers constitute two family grave plots, one for the Warford family and one for the Hussey family, and they record death dates between 1897 and 1985. One plot is marked at the corners by concrete and the other is enclosed by an iron fence. These stones record the deaths of 19 individuals but it is possible that other burial sites are unmarked. For example, a brother and sister named LeDrew are said to be buried “behind the left side of the foundation by a bunch of trees.”

Upper Gullies United Church Cemetery has aesthetic value due to its prominent placement along one of the main roads in the community and for the variety of mature trees and shrubs contained within it. Upper Gullies United Church Cemetery has spiritual value due to its association with the United Church/Methodist Church religion in Upper Gullies and greater Conception Bay South.

Source: Town of Conception Bay South Regular Council Meeting Motion 08-353 September 16, 2008.

Character Defining Elements

Those elements which contribute to the site’s historic, aesthetic and spiritual value including:

-style, placement and materials of gravemarkers;

-extant iron fencing on one plot;

-remains of stone foundation;

-grassy groundcover;

-mature trees and shrubs;

-existence of fencing to contain the cemetery;

-location of site, and;

-its association with the United Church/Methodist Church.

Notes

Warford family plot

Julia died 1897
George 1851-1938
George born 1880
Sandy 1902-1922
Wm. Robert 1903-1906
Alex George 1905-1985
Ada Jane 1907-1908
Muriel 1908-1909
Ernest N. born 1909
Chesley 1898-1917
Cascelia 1910-1912
Dorothy R. 1917-1919
Laura 1873-1949

Hussey family plot

Thomas died 1929 aged 72
Mary Jane (Thomas’ wife) died 1941 aged 84
Their children Bertha, Emma, Annie Jane and John Thomas

Community

Conception Bay South (Upper Gullies)

Municipality

Town of Conception Bay South

Civic Address

Conception Bay Highway, Upper Gullies

Construction (circa)

1886 - 1985