Buxton Pioneer Cemetery

In the former town of Raleigh township, on Lot. 8 Concession 11, is the closed and inactive Buxton Pioneer Cemetery. The Buxton Settlement was founded in 1849 by Irish Presbyterian Minister, Rev. William King and 15 former American slaves. They and other U.G.R.R.'s, Underground Railroad refugees and abolitionists purchased a 4,680 hectare tract of land as a joint stock company. Settlers cleared the land and established farms on 50 acre plots which they purchased over time. By 1859, the settlement reached it's peak population of over 1,000 residents served by three integrated schools, 2 temperance hotels, a general store, a post office, a sawmill, a brickyard, a grist mill and a pearlash factory[ a factory that converts hardwood ashes into lye, potash, or pearlash]. The pearlash was a difficult step and the final product was often sent to Great Britain where it was used in the production of glass and ceramic wares. In 1873, it's objectives achieved, the company was disbanded but the community here survived.