registered Patents on their
property and later fulfilled
the requirements for a deed,
but for some reason others
never did and by 1865 Anglo-
Saxon names showed up on the
properties, and some of the
former disappeared from the
records.
   The exhibit introduces

visitors to the Old Durham
Road and some of the people
who first lived on lots along
the Road. In particular the
stories of six families – the
Blacks, Pattersons, Browns,
Meads, Simons and Workmans –
who settled here in the 1850s
are told by archival photos,
documents and land registries

dating back to that time.
   The story of the
reclamation of the Old Durham
Road Pioneer Cemetery also
comes alive with photos and
words.
   For more than a century,
the burial ground for people
of African descent, some of
whom, it is believed, came to

Canada as United Empire
Loyalists, lay under a
farmer’s field of potatoes.
   We tell the story of the
dedicated committee of Whites
and Blacks who came together
to uncover the graves – and
the truth.