The Gabriola Cemetery
As a child, I spent many summer holidays with an aunt who was fascinated by cemeteries and could hardly pass one without stopping to take a look. She would have loved the one on Gabriola. It’s a spot I enjoy visiting even though I don’t know anyone buried there and am not at all religious. It should be no surprise, I suppose — given all the creative energy on the island — that the cemetery is filled with beautiful and sometimes idiosyncratic memorials.
It was hard to pick just a few to include here. But here goes:
This wooden memorial has a tantalizingly ambiguous form. Is it a bird? Is it a fish? Or should I just enjoy the organic shape without trying to force it into some mental mold?
I really liked this one with its pebble edging and simple plants. I wondered what the collection of artifacts meant to the couple buried here and their surviving loved ones? Note also the stained glass plaque in the background. There are quite a few of these in the cemetery and I understand they are custom-made on the island.
The art work here was very West Coast.
And I just had to finish up with this one – it reminds me of a petroglyph. How could you get any more Gabriola Island than that?
Filed in Gabriola Island 4 Comments so far
4 Responses to “The Gabriola Cemetery”
cheryl on 11 Mar 2010 at 6:41 am #
I understand Gabriolan taking pictures to show on the blog, but a little while ago I was walking past the graveyard on my way down to the beach for a walk and I noticed a person taking pictures of the graves and was still there taking pictures an hour later on my way back to my car. Am I missing something? Does anyone know why someone would want to take pictures of all the grave stones? Is this an artsy thing. I ‘ve walked through and looked at the stones myself on occasion but can’t see a reason for photographing all of them.
Gabriolan on 11 Mar 2010 at 10:19 am #
Hi, Cheryl! First of all, today’s post about the cemetery was written by Anon E. Mouse, who is one of the guest bloggers you’ll be seeing around here from time to time. Anon E. Mouse supplied both the text and the photos in this blog entry.
That said, there are many reasons to take pictures of graves in a cemetery. Some people do that to record information that may be lost later, like when time and weather make a name carved in stone difficult to read. Other people just like cemeteries.
cheryl on 11 Mar 2010 at 5:31 pm #
Ahh… Maybe it was Anon E. Mouse I saw taking all those pics, may-be.
Karen on 11 Mar 2010 at 5:40 pm #
People who are history buffs enjoy taking pictures at graveyards. We plan on moving there in the not too distant future and we are trying to learn the history of the island. I have taken pictures of the older grave Memorials on gabriola, and bought the book “The People Of Gabriola” that was selling at the market so as to learn about the people in those graves.