HRM to repair dozens of Camp Hill Cemetery grave markers

By Michael Lightstone

Dozens of grave markers in Halifax’s Camp Hill Cemetery are in need of repair, and the municipality is seeking bids for the restoration work.

A major part of the job involves repositioning gravestones, which can include leveling their bases or hoisting a monument and placing it back on its base.

“The monuments could be over 150 years old so we will require a (successful) bidder that is a certified restoration stonemason,” a public tender issued Thursday says.

Fifty-five grave markers must be fixed, it says. Sizes vary; many are tablet shaped, others are small pillars.

Bidders are to supply the municipality with cost quotes on “all labour, materials, tools, equipment, transportation and services” needed to do the cemetery project, a tender document says.

A mini-excavator will be required to attend to one area of the site, it says.

The deadline for bids is June 3 at 2 p.m. The job has to be finished by Sept. 3, says the tender from Halifax Regional Municipality, which maintains the cemetery.

 A mandatory bidders’ meeting and site visit are set for May 26. Public-health guidelines must be followed during the visit because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Camp Hill Cemetery is bordered by Robie Street, Veterans Memorial Lane, Summer Street and a tiny part of Carlton Street. It’s a site visited by relatives and friends of those buried there, and by walkers, joggers, cyclists and tourists.

Notable people interred in that cemetery include Joseph Howe, Alexander Keith, Viola Desmond and Robert Stanfield.

In September 2019, HRM closed the graveyard temporarily due to the effects of hurricane-force winds from post-tropical storm Dorian. The storm damaged headstones, downed trees and created much debris.

Michael Lightstone is a freelance reporter living in Dartmouth

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