Finding where a loved one rests eternally at the Armstrong-Spallumcheen Cemetery is being made easier by two committees.
The Armstrong-Spallumcheen Museum and Art Gallery and the Armstrong Heritage Advisory Committee have created a pair of projects that will assist people in finding the graves of family me-bers or friends.
“Three years ago, we were looking through the Communities in Bloom judging criteria and one of the things that comes under heritage is cemeteries,” said Gail Salter of the heritage committee, who, along with Jessie-Ann Gamble and Dawn Jameson, spearheaded the cemetery project.
“We haven’t done anything with cemeteries, we looked at each other and said ‘oh for heaven’s sake.’”
A visit to the Armstrong-Spallumcheen Cemetery on Highland Road told the three women that there was no signage, no names of the little roads, no directory and, well, no nothing.
The trio went to the joint Armstrong-Spallumcheen council seeking funding for the project, which was approved.
Phase one included naming the roads in the cemetery and putting up signposts with the names on them.
Road names were chosen after local varieties of shrubs.
“Vernon’s roads are named after trees and Enderby’s are named after flowers,” said Salter. “We chose shrubs.”
Armstrong Machine Shop did the decorative work on the signs and Armstrong Signs and Graphics created the white-with-black name plates and had them erected at the cemetery.
Next up is an on-site directory that Salter said is finished and will be put up in the spring.
“It’s a map of the cemetery, colour-coded as to the sections and it shows all the plots,” she said.
“It will be about four-feet by three-feet and will have a little shake roof over it to protect it. It will have a stone foundation and a directory of who’s buried in the cemetery.”
Sunridge Designs created the directory design and are doing the construction.
“People visiting the cemetery and wanting to find a loved one’s plot can go to the directory,” said Salter.
“We’re still discussing a location for it. We hope to have it ready for the spring, and we’ll try to update it maybe every six months or annually.”
The museum has also prepared a special brochure called Locating the Cemeteries of Armstrong-Spallumcheen.
The fold-out brochure contains a list of five area cemeteries – Armstrong-Spallumcheen, Hullcar, Grandview Flats, Lansdowne and St. Anne’s.
There is a map that shows all five cemeteries and their locations, and includes driving directions from the Armstrong Museum.
The brochure is available at the museum, Armstrong-Spallumcheen Visitor Centre, Armstrong city hall and the Township of Spallumcheen office.
