Archeologist Nadine Kopp (left) and her colleague Andrea Jackson sift through dirt and concrete at the site on Queen Street where human bones were found recently.
Human bones recently unearthed by construction workers on Queen Street serve as a reminder to Ottawa residents of the city’s historic heritage.
Construction workers at 66 Queen St. were attempting to replace an old water main dating back to 1874 when they found what looked like human bones.
Construction stopped immediately and the police and coroner were called to confirm that the bones were indeed human.
Const. Mark Soucy, of the Ottawa Police Service, says the investigation took a few days to determine there was no foul play.
“Upon further investigation, they found out that there used to be an old cemetery in that area, or close by, so they deemed that those bones were from there and that there was no foul play suspected.”
Soucy says the coroner, “made it clear that they were human bones and that they appeared to be from a long time ago. That’s why we needed the experts to examine them to make sure it wasn’t a crime.”
The bones were found to be archaeological, meaning it has been more than 50 years since the individuals died.
The coroner confirmed that more than one bone was found at the construction site and that the case has been passed on to the archaeologists and the Registrar of Cemeteries.
Carleton University history professor Bruce Elliott says this area is the site of the first Bytown cemetery and that the land was originally owned by Nicholas Sparks in the late 1820s.
“He acquired the land there prior to the decision to build the canal. Colonel By had appropriated a large part of Sparks’s farm to facilitate both the canal construction and the construction of fortification of what was then called Barrack Hill.
"Thomas Burrowes, who was one of the canal officials, had a young child die in 1827 and so he applied to Colonel By for permission to bury him somewhere on the town site. Colonel By told him to pick a spot on the hill and bury him there and to have it fenced in,” says Elliott.
Elliott says this was the beginning of the cemetery located just south of Barrack Hill and later more bodies were added due to the convenient location.
The cemetery was split into different Christian denominations and would have included a variety of people including soldiers, immigrants and workers on the canal.
Elliott says that most of Ottawa’s original cemeteries from the 1800s were moved due to the increasing size of the city and lack of space.
The bodies from Barrack Hill were then likely moved to Sandy Hill cemetery which opened in 1844.
Just under 30 years after opening, Sandy Hill cemetery – now Macdonald Gardens Park – was closed and many of the bodies were moved to Beechwood and Notre-Dame cemeteries.
Glen Shackleton, founder and director of The Haunted Walk says he has known there were bodies near Queen Street for years.
“On the haunted walk, for about 15 years we have been telling people that this is a place where they didn’t remove all the bodies when they closed it down and it ended up filling up after the 1840s so they started moving away some of the bodies.”
Shackleton says the discovery of the bones is perfect timing for Halloween season and he will be looking to incorporate these new findings in his Haunted Walks.