Headstone of Michael Ryan, b. 1820, d, 1897; uncovered by his great-great-granddaughter, Dr. Angela Robinson

Dr. Angela Robinson's research investigates the hidden heritage and culture of an early ancestral cemetery in King's Cove, Bonavista Bay.

"Ancestral lands are often repositories for the social and cultural knowledge from which collective and personal identities are formed and retained," she said. "Cemeteries can be seen as locations where culture, heritage and local history coalesce."

She said her work is partly historical, archaeological and archival research, and part auto-ethnography - her ancestors resided in King's Cove and are interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

"Holy Sepulchre cemetery is a site where ancestral legacies, stories, and histories converge, and where people and place are intimately connected," said Dr. Robinson, who presented her research at the Canadian Association of Irish Studies Conference at the University of Galway in Ireland.

Operative from the 1850s until 1969, Holy Sepulchre is the resting place of some of the earliest settlers of Newfoundland, among whom many were Irish nationals. As one of the oldest cemeteries in Bonavista South, those buried there contributed to the region in significant ways, particularly in the making of the remarkable history, heritage and culture passed down through the generations along with their lasting imprint on the physical landscape.

Despite such lasting contributions, however, Holy Sepulchre has fallen into disrepair. Robinson said the cemetery's derelict condition is emblematic of the physical abandonment of place brought about by chronic out-migration from rural communities on the island of Newfoundland culminating in pronounced and prolonged demographic shifts.

"In addition to mapping the cemetery and retrieving available nominal and statistical information, this research is just as much about ancestral spaces along with the oral histories and local knowledge inextricably intertwined in the lives of our forebears," said Robinson, "all of which contribute in meaningful ways to enduring connections between people and place."