Maria Baldwin

The tall black monument with its corner posts still intact is known locally as the “witch’s grave.” The rumour is completely false. The stone is black because of the effect of acid rain on sandstone, and it is rare in this area — the stone was imported from the Toronto region. The monument remembers Maria Baldwin and her young baby. Rumours of witchcraft spread through the area in the 1980s and 1990s, but had any of it been true she would never have been buried in an Anglican churchyard. She was the daughter of Edward Ermatinger, of a very prominent local family, and the wife of Reverend Maurice Baldwin, who later became Bishop of Huron. Maria died in childbirth and her baby died soon after.