This cemetery got its start when the old catholic cemetery downtown ran out of room, and the downtown property also became prime real estate. By the 1880s most of the bodies had been moved here. The cemetery consists of two acres and about 1000 burials. It's one of three cemeteries on Mackinac Island, the others being Post Cemetery and Mackinac Island Cemetery.
In 2011, bones were found at the old cemetery site during an excavation. They were assumed to be Native American bones (testing could probably have verified this?) and they were moved with a dump truck load of dirt from that site to St. Ann's. The Spirit Garden burial mound is flanked by a restored Totem Pole and a wooden carved turtle.
There are a lot of familiar Mackinac Island family names here. We stayed at the beautiful Metivier Inn a few times.
The Murrays have been on the island since the 1800s and have their own family plot.
And the Putzs have just planned ahead.
John Francis fought in the Indian Wars.
Here lies a Michigan Cavalry Veteran.
Thomas Bezinaw died in World War II.
Charles and Julia Mahar lost their daughter, Rosetta, in 1885, when she was 1 year, 4 months old.
The oldest known burial in this cemetery is that of Mary Biddle. She fell through the ice and died in 1833 when she was 8 years old.
It's a well-visited grave.
Her inscription reads:
"As the sweet flower that scents the morn but withers in the rising day, thus lovely was this infant's dawn, thus swiftly fled its life away." Two of Mary's sisters rest nearby.
The Biddle house is probably the oldest house on the island, owned by Mary's parents, Edward and Agatha.
A long-time senator from Michigan, Philip Hart has a family plot here. He was a Democratic Senator from 1958-1976.
His wife, Jane Briggs Hart, was a most amazing woman. She earned her pilot's license at age 18 and later became the first licensed female helicopter pilot in Michigan. Jane was a founding member of NOW and an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War (she was arrested in 1969 at an antiwar demonstration at the Pentagon). Jane was an avid sailor and sailed 15 times in the Port Huron to Mackinac boat race as part of an all women crew. She flew in the face of convention at a time when women were expected to stay home and be wives and mothers. And she did it as a mother of eight and wife of a senator.
Jane's most famous bit of history is being one of the Mercury 13 astronauts. Female pilots went through the same testing as the male Mercury astronauts but were denied a chance to fly in space due to the overall sexism of NASA and the outspoken opposition by John Glenn and noted female pilot Jackie Cochran (who was too old to be part of the program). Read all about it here.
Philip Hart served in WWII and was wounded in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. He received the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Their first child, Philip, died at age 3 in a drowning accident and is here with his parents.
There are many more stories to be found in St. Ann's Cemetery but this is the last one for now. We were honored to be invited last September to the family burial ceremony of the ashes of a friend who passed away a few years ago. So we have another place to pay our respects when we return. RIP Bruce 💗
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