{"id":1785,"date":"2026-06-05T19:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silverhawkpromotions.com\/newsite\/?page_id=1785"},"modified":"2026-06-05T19:22:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:22:53","slug":"our-oldest-graveyard","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/silverhawkpromotions.com\/newsite\/our-oldest-graveyard\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Oldest Graveyard"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Our Oldest Graveyard<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Shoal Harbour Methodist Cemetery<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The oldest known graveyard in the area, Shoal Harbour Methodist Cemetery is located off Balbo Drive behind Wiseman\u2019s in a former farmer\u2019s field known as Don Tilley’s Field. It is surrounded by a wooded area and extends close to the embankment overlooking Random Sound. The remnants of a wire fence outline its boundaries.<\/p>

Shoal Harbour Methodist Cemetery was designated a municipal heritage site by the Town of Clarenville due to its historical, spiritual and aesthetic values.<\/p>

The cemetery dates back to at least the latter part of the nineteenth-century.<\/p>

The fragmented marble gravemarkers at the site bear both spiritual epitaphs and religious iconography. It is believed that the community\u2019s original Methodist Church (consecrated in 1866 and burned to the ground in 1892) once stood at the front of the site, although this has not been established with certainty.<\/p>

The cemetery has historical value due to its connection with the area’s earliest, permanent residents, John Tilley (or Tilly) and his family. Scholar John Tilley (died 1871), who realized extraordinary accomplishments in both his business and in his personal life, his wife Elizabeth (died circa 1868), and very likely other family members are buried there. The Tilleys also built the first Methodist Church in Shoal Harbour.<\/p>

Thomas Godden (or Gadden), a veteran of the Battle of Trafalgar is also laid to rest at Shoal Harbour Methodist Cemetery. The hand-chiselled name \u201cThos Godden\u201d on a locally made slate stone would have taken considerable effort and likely indicates that he was held in high regard. The marble headstones that once marked the grave sites of John and Elizabeth Tilley and others were likely imported and are indicative of the esteem in which they were held, as imported headstones would have been costly.<\/p>

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Sources:<\/p>