Linda Campbell knows heritage. Working in the field since 1985, Linda has spent the past 22 years building an inventory of pre-WWI buildings in the Yarmouth area.
Linda has looked after heritage property registration, encouraged public heritage awareness in schools and through media, and responded to queries from individuals keen to know the history of properties.
Since the introduction of the Historic Places Initiative, Linda has composed Statements of Significance for municipally registered heritage properties, and she currently serves on the board of directors for two heritage-related organizations in her region.
Linda finds satisfaction in knowing that her heritage contribution has made a lasting difference for her community. She recalls a woman who wrote to her office asking the municipality to clear the brush and overgrowth in an old, abandoned cemetery in the community of Beaver River in time for a big family reunion. Ancestors of this family were buried there.
Linda brought the matter to the Heritage Advisory Committee, which asked her to find someone to take responsibility for the cemetery’s upkeep. As a result, Linda wrote to more than a dozen churches in the municipality, reminding people that the majority of them probably had ancestors buried in the cemetery. Just to make her point, Linda included 49 surnames of known burials.
Rev. Ulric Dawson read the letter at a service at Cedar Lake, and several people who lived in the area responded. Word spread and, within a few weeks, a well-publicized meeting was held.
“Rev. Dawson was the driving force behind what followed,” says Linda. In June 1999, the Old Beaver River/Port Maitland Cemeteries Preservation Society was formed. It is now a registered non-profit organization with a very active board of directors, including Linda. This group assumed responsibility for clearing and maintaining three abandoned cemeteries, all of which have now been registered as heritage properties.
Linda says that the plaque unveiling ceremonies that have been held for each registered heritage property hold special meaning for her. She is always touched when the tartan veil is removed to reveal a new heritage plaque.
“At times like these, I’m usually thinking about what the place and the surrounding area looked like when it was newly built. I’m thinking about the generations of families who have attended the churches, or the people who have been laid to rest in the cemeteries,” she says. “I’ve always tried to imagine myself there.”
Linda continues to find her inspiration in the individuals in her community who make the commitment to preserve and restore for future generations. “They’ve been, without exception, truly concerned for and dedicated to the future preservation of those properties,” she says.