Negro Burial Ground 1830

Photo by Alan L Brown - August 22, 2004

Photo by Alan L Brown - March 25, 2007

Plaque Location

The Region of Niagara
The Town of Niagara-On-The-Lake
On the east side of Mississauga Street between John Street and Mary Street

Plaque Text

Here stood a Baptist church erected in 1830 through the exertions of a former British soldier. John Oakley, who although white, became pastor of a predominantly negro congregation. In 1793 Upper Canada had passed an act forbidding further introduction of slaves and freeing the children of those in the colony at twenty-five. This was the first legislation of its kind in the British Empire. A long tradition of tolerance attracted refugee slaves to Niagara, many of whom lie buried here.