The church nearby dates to 1862, but Al DeWitt is convinced there was another on this site before then. “I don’t think they would have had a cemetery here without a place of worship.” 

The history of the site runs deep. “The United Empire Loyalist trail came right through here. You know, if you’re from the County, if you don’t have family buried in Cherry Valley, I think I’d find that strange.” And deeper still. “That maple tree,” he says, pointing toward it and then approaching with a kind of reverence, “is 500 years old. That’s what I’m told.”

The Cherry Valley Cemetery is not unconnected to history. Nor is its owner and operator.

Al DeWitt calls himself a “Bay of Quinte boy.” Born and raised in Smithfield, he has Mohawk roots at Long Reach and a grandfather who was from Hillier. He has also served as a Quinte West councillor.

After a career in road building, 25 years ago he found himself entering the cemetery business. By 2019, he operated four cemeteries, the last of which is Cherry Valley’s, one of the busiest and longest standing in the region.

Marking its 200th anniversary this year, Cherry Valley Cemetery has been many things to many people. And Mr. DeWitt hopes it will remain so for many more generations. His sense of the history is in the geography itself. “It went from small to really, really big,” he says, indicating the change visible from the oldest headstones near the church to the more grand ones further out. “It’s probably a sign of the craftsmanship. All of a sudden, you see these popping up. You can see the mix of it right here, and all of a sudden, you go into the big tall ones, with Mary on top, and the whole works, and then they just start tailing right back down. They tell a story.”

The future of the cemetery, he believes, is in continuing that story in the landscape. From the rise and fall of the headstones themselves, he thinks the current feeling is toward the modest, whether it is the columbaria with its niches for urns or the new section for green burials, which feature individual plots graced with wildflowers and a single boulder listing the names of those buried here. A little further on is the memorial forest, where scattered ashes return to nature.

There are enough plots for another two hundred years of traditional burials, notes Mr. DeWitt, but the story now is in the different choices people make. “People want different options, and that we can provide.”

Cherry Valley Cemetery is connected to its community. Mr. DeWitt has ushered centuries of tradition into the present and is looking to the future. He has buried friends and strangers alike, with dignity and attention.

Speaking of his family, he notes how County traditions link the people to the place. “I grew up farming and I’m back farming, teaching my grandkids. We hunt, we fish, we farm, we grow, we preserve, but this job goes hand in hand. 

“All my kids and three of my nieces and nephews grew up working in the cemeteries. My oldest son works for us full-time, year round. He has three kids of his own, and they’re right beside him. Even if it’s just for a little while. You learn a lot, and you learn a lot of respect.”