Mount Pleasant Cemetery is one of my favourite places to visit in Toronto in the autumn. The grounds are impeccably kept while allowing for nature’s rhythm to simply be. Over-groomed cemeteries often feel manufactured to me, a physical representation of one’s attempt to fight against the natural order of death, a vain pursuit to control it. That’s simply my own projection, but a projection that steers me away from cemeteries that smell of fertilizer and grass and towards ones that smell of dirt and leaves.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery is one of Canada’s most historical cemeteries. Built in 1876, it serves as the final resting place for some of Canada’s most famous and infamous players. Canadian former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King is buried here, as are Timothy Eaton (founder of Eaton’s department stores), and Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. You may browse a listing here.
The following photographs are Part I of a two part photo series of Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The cemetery’s hours of operation and address may be found in Part II here.
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