Many Maritimers enjoy do-it-yourself home renovations, but few have experienced the kind of surprise one Antigonish County family received during a recent project.

They were digging up what they thought was an old rock near their back door when they discovered it wasn’t an old rock after all – it was actually a 148-year-old headstone.

“My husband, we had a leak in the basement, so he was trying to figure out where the leak was coming from and the water seemed to be pooling here at the doorstep,” says homeowner Mary Tenbrinke.

She and her husband Jerry have owned the home in St. Andrews, N.S. for about 50 years of its 150-year history.

They say the stone at their back door is buried in mud and always looked like a small piece of light rock.

“He had to keep digging and digging because it just seemed to get bigger and bigger than what we thought, and lo and behold, once he lifted the white stone up, there appeared to be, or there was, writing on the underside of the stone,” says Tenbrinke.

They say the headstone dates back to 1866. It was carved for “Catherine, the beloved wife of Malcolm Livingstone.” She died at the age of 38.

“We were shocked. We weren’t quite sure what we were uncovering here,” says Tenbrinke. “We were a little, a little perturbed at the time.”

Catherine MacGillivray, an amateur researcher with the Antigonish Heritage Museum, says a major clue in solving the mystery of the headstone is the name of the stone carver, J. McIsaac, at the bottom of the headstone.

She says McIsaac was known for his special skills in the art of marble work.

“The house once belonged to stone carver McIsaac and…initially the stone was carved for Catherine Cummings, but then years later, Malcolm died and a new stone was needed.”

The new stone containing Catherine’s and her family’s information still stands today in a cemetery in Antigonish County.

It appears the older stone was returned to its maker.

“Why would you keep a headstone? What do you do with a headstone? Returning it to the stonemason, maybe he could reuse it. For him, there was no attachment,” says MacGillivray.

In this case, it appears the carver used the headstone as a step, but it was forgotten over time.

Tenbrinke says she isn’t entirely sure what they will do with the headstone, but they may donate it to the Antigonish Museum.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh