Flashbacks: Hamilton Cemetery tour guide shares his top 10 favourite tombstones

When it comes to Hamilton history, Robin McKee knows where the bodies are buried.

For nearly 20 years, the former CHCH soundman has hosted weekly tours of Hamilton Cemetery with themes such as disasters, the arts, women and even the American Civil War.

But his Stories in the Stones" has been put on hold this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, the tours would start the first week of May and run until mid-November. But the city, which owns the cemetery on York Boulevard, has cancelled events on civic properties until at least July 2.

So as a bit of a substitute, I worked with McKee to come up with a Tombstone Top 10." Think of it as his Greatest Hits, or maybe the Buried Best.

McKee, 67, a passionate local heritage enthusiast who has a BA in history from McMaster University, has never missed a tour since starting the series in 2001. Once when he was travelling in Europe, he handled guide duties via his cellphone. Cancer surgery in his throat didn't stop him nor did a more recent stroke that left him legally blind. He has no vision in one eye and only 20 per cent in the other.

I will be buried in Hamilton cemetery. I have a plot there ... I've literally danced on my future grave," he says.

But he doesn't plan on making use of it for a while. He has more exploring to do and stories to tell.

People think history is boring but you can bring the stories to life by taking people through the cemetery and showing them where the people are buried," he says.

He's always on the lookout for new anecdotes and themes to explore and he spends a lot of time in the Local History and Archives Section of the Hamilton Public Library doing research. But, one topic he steers clear from is ghost stories.

I personally believe the cemetery is not haunted. It's a place of peace. It doesn't have zombies," he says.

Hamilton Cemetery has an estimated 69,500 graves and has been around since the mid-1850s. It's the biggest graveyard and most illustrious in Hamilton. You'll find everything from a big grey and black memorial for city founder George Hamilton to an inconspicuous footstone that sheepishly remembers notorious rum-runner Ben Kerr. There are giant mausoleums for wealthy families and graves with no markers at all. It's an open-aired museum of local history with stories behind every stone.

The Buried Best

1. George Hamilton (1788-1836) is the founder of Hamilton. He purchased a parcel of land that grew to become a city 10 years after he died. He was originally buried in a family cemetery near the escarpment, but Jolley Cut construction led to his remains being moved in the 1950s. Section Z-1.

2. Robert Land (1739-1818) escaped the American Revolution as a British Loyalist who was one of the first non-Indigenous settlers at the Head-of-the-Lake. The family thrived, and one of his descendants was Charles Lindbergh who made the first trans-Atlantic solo flight in 1927. Section CC-C.

3. Hugh Cossart Baker (1846-1931) set up the first Canadian telephone service in Hamilton largely so he could play chess with his friends over the phone. It all sounds familiar today with people using video conferencing to play games with their friends because of the coronavirus pandemic. Section CC-A.

4. William Winer Cooke (1846-1876), a military officer in the U.S. Army who grew up in the Hamilton area, died with Col. George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. His body was originally buried near the battlefield, but his family had his remains exhumed and brought to Hamilton Cemetery. Section CC-B.

5. Ethel Kinrade (1884-1909) was the victim of one of the city's most sensational unsolved murders. She was shot to death in her home in a killing blamed on tramps." But there was great suspicion that her sister Florence pulled the trigger. Section M.

6. Adelaide Hoodless (1858-1910) was a leading advocate of pasteurized milk and a major social and educational reformer of the 19th century who co-founded the Women's Institute, among other organizations. Section C of A-A.

7. James Barron (1856-1903) was the first Hamilton police officer killed in the line of duty. He was shot to death in a crime that was never solved. The death led to local police being issued firearms. Section Q-3.

8. John Herbert Caddy (1801-1887) was Hamilton's Indiana Jones," an engineer and artist who was the first person to rediscover and sketch the lost Mayan city of Palenque. Section CC-C.

9. William Eli Sanford (1838-1899) was one of the first entrepreneurs to mass produce ready-made clothing. His tomb is one of the most extravagant in Hamilton Cemetery, looking like a Greek Temple. He drowned in Muskoka. Section A-8.

10. James Young (1853-1915) and wife Georgina Young (1858-1915) were passengers onboard the ocean liner RMS Lusitania that was famously sunk by a German U-boat in the First World War. The couple was travelling to England to visit their wounded son James Vernon, a soldier who had been fighting in France. The couple reportedly jumped from the doomed ship hand-in-hand to drown in the water below. Section V.

Mark McNeil is a Hamilton-based freelance contributing columnist for The Spectator. Reach him via email: markflashbacks@gmail.com