Nelson Memorial Park - Nelson, BC
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member ScroogieII
N 49° 28.564 W 117° 17.155
11U E 479287 N 5480419
Nelson Memorial Cemetery is located in a peaceful setting on the 2300 block of Falls Street. Visitors to the cemetery are invited to stop at the information kiosk to pick up a map, and to view the cemetery register to locate gravesites.
Waymark Code: WM1331X
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 09/05/2020
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member bluesnote
Views: 0
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The cemetery occupies approximately 6 hectares (15 acres) of land accessed by beautifully treed service corridors that provide excellent strolling lanes past approximately 11,500 gravesites of Nelson’s most prominent and earliest citizens. Nelson Memorial Cemetery has a Mausoleum located on the left toward the back of the cemetery.

For many years the population within this necropolis has exceeded that of the city it serves. All individuals interred in the cemetery contributed in some way to the development of the city’s character and charm.
From the beginning in 1898 the Nelson cemetery was surveyed into different plots: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Chinese, and General (no affiliation), later followed by Knights of Pythias, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), Masons, Soldiers, etc.

Upright, elaborate monuments this early era gave way to the manicured lawns and almost invisible horizontal memorials of the mid–twentieth century. Therefore, the layout, design, symbolism of markers and choice of epitaphs reflect the changing customs and attitudes of a developing society. Note that, in keeping with a medieval Christian practice, the majority of graves and gravestones face eastward so that the deceased would view the rising sun on Resurrection Day.

The first funeral held in Nelson was for A. Bart Henderson who probably died in early 1889 and was buried near Baker and Falls Streets on the western fringe of the downtown district. To extend Baker Street westward to the railway station, the provincial government allocated $48.00 in 1893 to remove and transfer three bodies from this first graveyard to Nelson’s second burial ground situated just east of the town in the vicinity of the current City Tourist Park on High Street.

For a permanent cemetery site, 16 hectares (40 acres) of land just south of Nelson was purchased from the Columbia & Kootenay Railway Company, a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway. By the end of 1898, all bodies were removed from High Street and transferred to the present cemetery using the horse–drawn Resurrection Wagon.
From Nelson Memorial Cemetery
Nelson Memorial Park
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
Nelson Memorial Park is a 5.6 hectare cemetery located at the top of Falls Street in Nelson, B.C.

HERITAGE VALUE
Nelson Memorial Park is valued for its aesthetic and spiritual values and as an important open space in the city.

Established in 1898 on 16 hectares of land purchased from the Coumbia-Kootenay Railway Company (a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway) to create a permanent public cemetery site, Nelson Memorial Park is important for its spiritual values as the city’s civic cemetery. While this is Nelson’s third cemetery (earlier cemeteries were located near Falls and Baker Streets and at the present day Tourist Park), the longheld spiritual values of this place are intact.

The Park is valued for its 19th century picturesque, garden-like aesthetic with its burial plots separated by different associations, and for its importance as accessible open space for the citizens of Nelson.

Cultural value is found in the cemetery’s representation of different religious and ethnic associations including Anglican, Roman Catholic, Fraternal Order of the Eagles, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Masons, Soldiers, Chinese, and the general citizenry, while the layout and design of markers reflect the varying customs and cultures of these diverse groups.

The cemetery is valuable historically for well-known Nelson citizens who are buried here, and through the military plot which consists of uniform gravestones that remember soldiers from the First and Second World Wars.

The cemetery is valuable for its use of granite and marble materials quarried locally, including from Three Mile Point Works east of Nelson, the Kootenay Lake Marble Quarry and Marblehead in Lardeau, while local stonecutters were responsible for carving epitaphs, erecting gravestones and placing the curbs.
From the City of Nelson Heritage Register, Page 80
Photo goes Here
Official Heritage Registry: [Web Link]

Address:
2300 Block - Falls Street
Nelson, BC
V1L 1M7

Heritage Registry Page Number: Not listed
Visit Instructions:
To log a visit to a Waymark in this category at least one photo of the property, taken by the visitor, must be included with the visit, as well any comments they have concerning either their visit or the site itself. Suggested inclusions are: what you like about the site, its history, any deviations from the description in the heritage listing noted by the visitor, and the overall state of repair of the site.
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