Montreal’s annual “Walk to the Stone” to include Montreal Irish Monument Park supporters

This year’s Walk to the Stone in Montreal to honour the thousands of Irish immigrants who died in 1847 during the famine will take place on Sunday, May 31, and the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation wants more than 1,000 people to join them. So far, more than 50 people have confirmed their attendance, leaving 950 people to go.

Every year, on the last Sunday in May, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) organizes a Walk to the Stone, the Irish Commemorative Stone, to honour and remember the more than 6,000 immigrants who died and were buried in the area where the Black Rock stands today.

This year, the AOH has agreed to allow Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation supporters to join them to support the building a green cultural park in the area.

Participants are encouraged to gather at noon at St. Gabriel’s Church on Centre Street in the Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood, following an 11:00 a.m. Mass. At 12:30 p.m., everyone will start walking to the Rock. The walk will take about 20 or 30 minutes, and a bus will be provided for individuals who have difficulty walking the distance.

Depending on the weather, the Walk to the Stone usually attracts more than 100 people, but the AOH and Foundation supporters hope to encourage at least 1,000 people to join them this year.

During the mid-19th century, workers constructing the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence River discovered a mass grave in Windmill Point where victims of the typhus epidemic of 1847 had been quarantined in fever sheds. The workers, many of whom were of Irish descent, were unsettled by the discovery and wanted to create a memorial to ensure the grave, which held the coffins of 6,000 Irish immigrants, would not be forgotten. They set up a large black rock.

Irish Commemorate Stone, the Black Rock. Montreal. Photographer: André Pichette. Montreal Gazette.

Erected on December 1, 1859, the rock was the first Canadian monument to represent the famine. The inscription on the stone reads:

“To Preserve from Desecration the Remains of 6000 Immigrants Who died of Ship Fever A.D. 1847-48

This Stone is erected by the Workmen of Messrs. Peto, Brassey and Betts Employed in the Construction of the Victoria Bridge A.D. 1859.”

If you are interested in participating in the walk, send a note to info@ferguskeyes.com, indicating the number of people who will join you. You may also indicate your participation on the Support Park Project & Walk to the Stone Facebook page.

No need to be Irish to walk. All you need is a desire to honour those immigrants who died in 1847.