Mount Hermon Cemetery National Historic Site of Canada

Mount Hermon Cemetery was designated a national historic site of Canada in 2005 because:

• it is a very attractive example of a small rural cemetery characterized by its uneven topography and naturalistic landscape of many perspectives laid out in the Picturesque manner, its curvilinear roads and islets of irregular curved shapes and differing sizes, its many trees, and in particular an outstanding view of the St. Lawrence River;
• it includes a number of funerary monuments of artistic and historical interest and which are an exceptional illustration of many aspects of the history of Canada, the province, and the City of Québec.

The Mount Hermon Cemetery was established during the rural cemetery movement in the early 19th-century, in accordance with its principles of creating a naturalistic and pastoral setting. Its Picturesque aspects include a blending of nature and art which can be found in the variety of neoclassical monuments located at the cemetery, in the winding paths and in the panoramic views of the St. Lawrence River. Mount Hermon was the first rural cemetery established in the area around the City of Québec as a result of the need for a new burial site due to overcrowding at the Old Protestant Burying Ground, located within the city.