History
Notable residents
Every one of the 11,400 people at Hollowmere has a story. These are nine we tell most often, on our tours and to the schoolchildren who visit each spring.
1789 – 1866 · Miller and founder
Captain Josiah Thorne
"For one shilling and the keeping of it, so long as the Mere shall fill."
The miller who sold the hollow to the town "for one shilling and the keeping of it."
Read the full story →
1818 – 1891 · Section A
Margaret Ferrier Lyle
Schoolmistress and first registrar
Kept the first burial register in her own hand for 32 years, unpaid.
1822 – 1888 · Section H
Dr. Augustus Penhale
Physician
Stayed in Elderbrook through the cholera summer of 1854 when others left.
1836 – 1909 · Section B
Moses Calder
Blacksmith and cemetery trustee
Escaped slavery in Maryland, built a forge on Mill Street and forged the chapel's iron gates.
1861 – 1943 · Section E
Eleanor Brisbane Kaye
Photographer
Her 4,000 glass-plate negatives are the best record of Elderbrook ever made.
1879 – 1918 · Section C
The Corrigan Family
Five lives, one autumn
A single stone for a family lost to the 1918 influenza in five weeks.
1896 – 1917 · Section D
Private William Ormsby
Soldier, 18th Battalion
Killed at Vimy Ridge at 20. Remembered here though he rests in France.
1879 – 1962 · Section F
Clara Weatherby
First woman on town council
Elected in 1921, she won Elderbrook its public library and its first paved road.
1902 – 1979 · Section G
Teodor Wiśniewski
Stonemason
Carved more than 300 of Hollowmere's markers and the bench by the Mere.
Visit them on the Founders' Walk
A free self-guided route past all nine, about 50 minutes on paved lanes.