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Feb 14, 2023 · They forcibly removed the original Black settlers, many of whom relocated to Collingwood, Owen Sound, Oro Township and elsewhere. The “darky cemetery” fell into disuse and neglect in the 1880s. In the early 1930s, the gravestones were removed.
- A Stop on The Underground Railroad
- Once-Thriving Black Community Gone
- Debate Over Priceville's Namesake
- Disturbing Revelations
- A History Not Known to Many
- Hiding Black Heritage
- 'Honour That History and Lift It Up'
- A Success For A Short Time
In the 19th century, Collingwood — like the town of Owen Sound, about 65 kilometres to the west — was a terminus for theUnderground Railroad. The secret network, made up of Black, white and Indigenous volunteers, helped between 30,000 and 40,000 formerly enslaved African Americans escape to Canada — where slavery remained legal until Aug. 1, 1834, ...
According to the census of 1851, every 50-acre lot along Durham Road in Priceville was settled by a Black family with parents born in the U.S. but most children born in Upper Canada, says Nancy Matthews, chair of the heritage committee of the municipality of Grey Highlands. The road was a key settlement route surveyed in the late 1840s that ran fro...
According to Black oral history, Priceville took its name from Colonel Price, a Black Loyalist soldier credited with having founded the settlement who was most likely a private but went by the first name Colonel. Price brought with him a group of Black settlers, but there's disagreement as to when exactly he arrived — and there have been questions ...
Most Canadians were introduced to the Priceville story in 2000, when the National Film Board documentarySpeakers for the Deadwas released. The film, by Black Canadian filmmakers David (Sudz) Sutherland and Jennifer Holness, shone a light on the desecration of Priceville's Black cemetery and revealed other inconvenient truths. In addition to the sto...
For Priceville residents Doug and Mary Harrison, watching Speakers for the Deadprovoked complicated feelings. On the one hand, they were disturbed to learn about the extent of their community's racist past, but they were also troubled at the way in which the village they loved was being maligned. After raising their family in the Greater Toronto Ar...
Over the decades, the erasure of Priceville's Black past led the remaining descendants of the Black settlers to deny or obscure their bloodlines and try to blend into the white community. Today, there is still a Black community in Priceville; it's just mostly white. "There are Black descendants in the Priceville area who aren't Black," said Norquay...
In the years since the release of Speakers for the Dead, Norquay has played an increasingly active role alongside other residents in trying to tell the story of Black Canadian settlers. "The film galvanized me," she said. "Speakers for the Deadis absolutely crucial to Canada's story." In the years following the film, an annual Black History Month e...
For Natasha Henry, president of the Ontario Black History Society, Priceville is an example that disrupts the myth of Canada as a welcoming refuge for Black people fleeing slavery. "Black settlers did find a measure of freedom," she said, "[but] there's a question as to whether it measured up with their vision of freedom." Harding-Davis says that a...
The 117 listed Black settlers represent 12% of the total 1851 Artemesia Township population. Over time, the Black settlement diminished. Some intermarried with White settlers and gradually integrated into White society. Many left marginal farms to seek paid work in Owen Sound, Collingwood or farther afield.
5 cemeteries in Collingwood, Ontario. Collingwood, Ontario locations for cemeteries.
Jul 2, 2021 · The Old Durham Road Black Pioneer Cemetery that sits along Grey Road 4 just outside of Priceville in Grey Highlands consists of several memorial plaques and a monument that depicts the history of the Black settlers who once lived there.
Feb 11, 2022 · Museum and Heritage Advisory Committee voted in favour of applying to National Trust for Canada to designate the cemetery a national historic site
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May 18, 2022 · Cultural, historical museum. Includes the Black communities of Oro, Collingwood/Owen Sound, Artemesia (Priceville Black Cemetery) and surrounding settlements. Offers guided/self guided tours describing the accomplishments of founding Black pioneers and their contribution to Canadian society.
