Carr- Harrison Cemetery, Ringwood

Joseph Carr purchased land that encompassed the western half of this cemetery in 1837, and in 1842 John Harrison purchased land that included the eastern half.

Typically, when a first death occurred in an area, a suitable piece of land was set aside as a burying ground that would serve the neighborhood thereafter. It was highly unusual for adjoining landowners to develop separate but neighboring cemeteries. Both the Carr and Harrison families were large and this may have been the reason for the separate burying grounds. It was a grim fact that a large family could easily fill a small cemetery given the high mortality rate of the times.

Like so many rural families, the Carrs and Harrisons eventually joined in matrimony in 1860 and the two separate family cemeteries became one. There were several early burials but the deeds for this cemetery were not officially recorded until the 1890’s. The ground is still in use and tended by both families 160 years later.