Last weekend we attended some of the Yard Sale For The Cure garage sales that were happening around Toronto as eager shoppers. Not only do proceeds from this annual event go to a very good cause, but you never know what little gem you may find. This year we were in luck to find a copy of Mike Filey's book Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide that we had foolishly loaned out to someone 6 years prior, and had never been returned.

Here is a snippet about the book:

"In Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide, Mike Filey brings us closer to the lives of those who are at rest in Ontario's most beautiful burial ground. Established in 1876 as a cemetery for all, irrespective of race or religion, Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, (now stretching from Yonge Street to Bayview Avenue, north of Bloor between Merton Street and Moore Avenue) was immediately perceived as a city attraction, featured in the daily papers, and recommended by city guide books. As well the magnificent grounds (designed by German landscape architect Henry Englehardt) which attracted visitors at the end of the nineteenth century, the cemetery now has an exceptionally rich and textured history and tells the story of Toronto's growth and change.

Collected in this guide, and arranged according to the cemetery layout, are nearly three hundred short life stories, intended to round out the biographies the head stone inscriptions can only hint at. As well as such important Canadian figures as Glenn Gould and Timothy Eaton, the biographies of less well-known Canadians, whose mostly ordinary lives were ended in unusual ways, are also included. Explanations of the funereal stones, descriptions of the shrubs and trees, and detailed maps of the grounds, showing the approximate location of all markers, help the visitor to appreciate some of the cemetery's physical features.

With book in hand, the Mount Pleasant tourist can enjoy Mt. Pleasant's calm and beauty and discover the personal histories that make up Toronto's social past."

Aside from the rich, and the famous Mount Pleasant Cemetery is also the final resting place of the Didier family so it is close to our hearts.

Finding a copy of the guide book has inspired us to visit this magnificent cemetery perhaps over this very weekend, and photograph some of the more famous, and the more interesting, and unique monuments to share here on Pastymes.