Fernie Cemetery - Fernie, BC - Worldwide Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

Fernie cemetery is a small, old, unsigned cemetery near the much larger St Margaret's cemetery. The City of Fernie's website makes no mention of this cemetery, and a map of St Margaret's cemetery (on the City's website) does not include this adjacent property, further evidence that this small cemetery is not a part of the St Margaret's cemetery.

According to user-added information on the Find A Grave website: "The first Fernie cemetery has largely fallen victim to time, vandals and development. The only visible remnant is a small fenced area on the west side of St Margaret's Road, northwest of the very much larger St Margaret's Cemetery." (visit link)

In 2013 an investigation revealed "that inaccurate record keeping and the improper designation of cemetery boundaries has led to the misplacement and/or removal of hundreds of people that died and were buried in Fernie". The story in the Fernie Free Press and another on Global News tells of multiple remains being unearthed during the construction on an elementary school, and of more remains being unearthed when the school was later torn down and the area redeveloped into estate housing.

The Free Press story states "Through the use of maps from the City of Fernie, an AutoCAD mapping program, and an aerial photograph, Haarstad and Gawryluk have confirmed the existence of what they believe to be four additional burial areas outside of St. Margaret’s Cemetery, and within City boundaries. This includes a small chain link fenced cemetery at the Silver Ridge Estates."

This is the small chain linked fenced cemetery that is mentioned in that story. 16 memorials are listed on Find A Grave, but the large spaces between headstones suggest that many unmarked graves exist within the fenced boundaries.

Links:

Fernie Cemetery on Find a Grave (visit link)

"Fernie may have additional burial sites outside of St. Margaret’s Cemetery" - Fernie Free Press, Jan. 29, 2013 (visit link)

"A Grave Mistake: Burial sites in Fernie vanish amid new development" - Global News, August 11, 2014 (visit link)

City, Town, or Parish / State / Country: Fernie, BC, Canada Approximate number of graves: 16 are listed, more likely Cemetery Status: Inactive Maintained Cemetery Website: Not listed

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