A few years ago, regular contributor Alex Weller got curious about the old Windermere Cemetery. Located on the banks of Lake Windermere, the Cemetery was closed to new burials in 1954 except for families with plots already purchased. Graves were being dug in supposedly unused ground that wasn’t so unused after all. Burial records were incomplete, and no one quite knew who all was buried in the cemetery or where they were all located. This project tries to make some sense of the confusion. By combining existing archival records at the Invermere District Office, the Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, and BC Archives along with time spent on the ground plotting the relative location of grave sites, Alex compiled a list of 485 names and created a new, detailed map of the Cemetery. As the earliest settler cemetery in the area, these names included many previously unknown to us, and represent a fascinating cross-section of early settler society. As always, we welcome further information on the people listed (e-mail Windermere Valley Museum [email protected]) If you want to take a look at a hard copy, stop by the Invermere Library, the Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, or the Invermere District Office.
View the full report and excerpts on our Publications and Newsletters page.