Spade & the Grave

death and burial through an archaeological lens

Curious Canadian Cemeteries

Below you will find an updated list of all of the sites I’ve covered so far, as an ongoing and ever-evolving series. If you have any questions about the project, or have a suggestion for a site to feature in the series, please send me a message through the contact page, or tweet me @graveyard_arch.

Curious Canadian Cemeteries: 

  1. St. Saviour’s Anglican Cemetery, Penticton, BC
  2. Belvedere Roman Catholic Cemetery, St. John’s, NFLD
  3. Union Cemetery, Calgary, AB
  4. Rockwood Cemetery, Rockwood, ON 
  5. Toronto Necropolis, Toronto, ON
  6. Brick Street Cemetery, London, ON
  7. Fairview Cemetery, near Oliver, BC
  8. South Side / Non-Denominational Burial Ground, Ferryland, NFLD
  9. Ellis Chapel, Puslinch Township, Wellington County, ON
  10. Kilworth (Baker) Cemetery, Delaware Township, Middlesex County, ON
  11. Castleton Cemetery, Cremahe Township, Northumberland County
  12. Juggler’s Cove Burial Site, Bay Roberts, NFLD

Curious Canadian Cemeteries began as an attempt to showcase the unique burial grounds, cemeteries, and graveyards across Canada. It was born out of frustration at seeing so many books discussing interesting burial sites around the world, which only mention a handful of sites in Canada, if any at all. It is an ongoing project which I will regularly be adding to as I continue my research into historic settler burial spaces and impressions, reflections of death, and other topics relating to death and dying in colonial Canada/North America.

Through a series of posts, I seek to inform my readers of the history that sits in our burial grounds throughout the country, and perhaps inspire a few of you to get out and visit your local historic burial grounds.

Please remember that when exploring settler burial sites, that these places were established on Indigenous territories and lands, which were taken through acts of colonial violence. It is important to take the time to know whose traditional territory we live on, and acknowledge the ongoing impacts of colonialism on the Indigenous peoples of Canada today. For more information on traditional territories, visit https://native-land.ca/

Thanks so much for reading.

**‘Cemeteries’ is used in the title of this series purely for alliterative purposes, but not all sites explored are considered to the cemeteries by definition.**