Once Upon a Tomb: Stories from Canadian Graveyards

Graveyards tell us a great deal about our country, as Nancy Millar discovered when she toured cemeteries across Canada to explore the history, mysteries, and stories found there. Here are stories about pioneers and settlers, missionaries and Native people, artists and politicians, and the ordinary people whose often unsung lives reveal so much about our past.

Millar highlights the "best" graveyards in each province, the most popular epitaphs, the most original gravemarkers, the most carefully guarded grave, the most poetic graveyard in the country, and much more. With more than ninety photographs, the book also provides interesting observations on graveyard architecture, Indian burial customs, and the variations in epitaphs among religions, genders, races, and provinces. So join Nancy Millar, Canada's Tombstone Tourist, for an engaging and unusual look at our history.