A Walk on Mont Royal

 MBC November 2019 Minute Book

     November 16, 2019 in spite of its being Mid-Fall, it turned out to be a perfect Winter day. Minus 13, Bright sun, not a cloud, and no wind.

    Alice Hawkins happened to be on the train platform at Vendôme when I got there, and we met A.T. Lane, W.G Ross and Sally at University de Montréal métro when we stepped outside.

   We walked up the road to the top- where there is a remnant of the T bar from the time the hill was used as a ski slope.

There is a park there now with benches and a fine view looking north and north east.

The depth of snow being about five inches, it was perfect for walking- the snow was crisp and not icy. We followed a trail that led us into Cemetière Notre de Dame des Neiges. The plan was to go to Mount Royal Cemetery- and we had a quest. We were looking for the grave of A.T. Lane.

We discovered that the official gate leading from one cemetery to the other was closed so we walked along thinking we might have to go to the main road but fortunately we found a little opening in the iron fence that allowed us through.

  We then walked to the office of Mount Royal cemetery hoping to get a detailed map of the grave sites. We were pleased that the office was open and the woman there very helpful. Soon after leaving the office we visited Alice's father's grave which is nearby.

  A. T. Lane's grave is registered and we had a number for it and set out of optimistically following the maps instructions.

We narrowed in on the place where the tomb stones were dated around the turn of the 20th century. We did a very detailed search without success. We now assume that AT's gravestone could lie horizontal to the ground and of course is now snow- covered. We made a plan to meet again in the Spring. We look forward to the day.

From there we walked to the exit of the the cemetery and through to Maison Smith and sat for a light meal. We met Karen Austin and her daughter Ashling O'Gorman. The MBC members were pleased to meet Jack Rabbit Johannsen's descendants.

It was beautiful walk back via Beaver lake and through the paths to to where Cote des Neiges meets Cedar Ave. Of note are the new steps into the mountain from that corner. The old ramp for vehicles was removed and that corner given back to the Mountain.

Submitted by Daisy Grenville