Cemeteries

A cemetery is a sacred place. The solemn disposition we feel when wandering through one is not only out of respect for the immense grief experienced for lost loved ones, but also out of a sense of reckoning that one day, we will end up in one.

Banff has two cemeteries. The old cemetery (1888) sits just a few blocks from downtown and is crowded with a jumble of headstones with familiar names of local explorers and guides. The newer cemetery (1950) is around four kilometers from town and is vast and almost seems empty. Hidden benches offer rest for those remembering and contemplating their loss.

It is human to establish a place where we place the deceased. And these places have become a part of Banff.

A stylized supply building at the new cemetery, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 A respectful building, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 A bench to mediate your loss, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 Snow blankets the deceased, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 The new cemetery has beautiful views of the Cascades, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 Rows of plastic flowers, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 Protected by a fence, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 Lots of room for decades to come, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 A quiet spot to think, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 The military sections at the old cemetery, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 Orderly gravestones standing at attention, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 A jumble of gravestones, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 The town of Banff lives here, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 Significant people got significant place markers, OM-2n, Arista edu 400, L76 1:1 Over 100 years of people, OM-2n, Arista edu 100, A76 1:1 Gravestones, OM-2n, Arista edu 100, A76 1:1

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