The Rossland Heritage Commission has secured provincial funding to proceed with its multi-year cemetery restoration project.
The project started in 2021 and has seen the Commission repair and clean monuments in the Columbia Cemetery, but now it’s the Calvary Cemetery’s turn.
The work is being conducted because both the Columbia Cemetery and the Calvary Cemetery are heritage sites, which the Rossland Heritage Commission’s mandate states must be maintained.
“Part of our mandate is to help maintain anything that’s a heritage site. At the Calvary Cemetery, some of the monuments are broken, so we’re having them restored and we needed the additional funding,” said Commission Treasurer Joanne Drystek.
According to Drystek, the ground beneath some of the monuments and tombstones has shifted over time, tipping the objects over.
The restoration process involves repairing and cleaning these broken or tilted monuments, along with removing moss and dirt.
“If there are fir trees over the cemetery, the monuments get very black, and then you can’t read the writing on the monuments. So we have a local gentleman who does the restoration for us, and every year we have a day where we do a volunteer cleanup.”
During the volunteer cleanup day, crews help dig out cribbing that often gets completely covered with dirt and moss.
Removing the debris ensures the concrete cribbing or monument doesn’t disintegrate over time.
The Commission received $2,400 in funding for 2024.
Other Kootenay Grant Recipient
- J.B. Fletcher Building Envelope- Heritage Conservation. Exterior building envelope and associated work.
- New Denver Orchard WWII Internment Connection- Heritage Awareness. Friends of the Orchard for interpretive materials based on newly discovered camp maps.
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