The Gates to Elmwood Cemetery

The minutes of Perth Cemetery Company meetings (all of which are available online) reveal there were several fences and gates in place before the current stone and iron gates that greet visitors. These early gates were in constant need of repair primarily because hitching posts for up to 25 horses was part of the fencing.

After years of repairs and rebuilding the current stone gates were put in place around 1907. The minutes record that even locating suitable stone for the gates was quite a challenge and delayed construction. The gates were designed and constructed by architect George Thomas Martin of Smiths Falls, the gentleman whose company had also constructed the vault. Stone for the pillars had to be brought in from Montreal and cost $600.00 to transport and install.

The cemetery grounds also provided a house for its full-time caretaker, several wells, a pump house system, a chapel, several large tool sheds and equipment storage buildings. Over the decades they have been dismantled and removed from the cemetery. One well and pump remains in place and is still working.