Image: The Old Cemetery Preservation Society has presented itself to Council on February 10. | Google Maps | Captured June 2023
OLD CEMETERY

Facing the future by preserving the past: Local group looks to bring new life to Kent Municipal Cemetery

Feb 15, 2025 | 10:14 AM

KENT — For this small group of passionate Kent residents, getting others to rally for the Old Cemetery has been somewhat of an uphill climb– and not just because of its reputation as one of the steepest cemeteries in the province.

The Old Cemetery on Limbert Mountain was born in 1895, the same year as Kent municipality.

“The land here flooded all the time,” said Bev Kennedy, co-chair of the pending Old Cemetery Preservation Society. “This was pre-dyking, so our ancestors were very smart and put their burials on the mountainside.”

Image: Staircase in the middle of the Cemetery. | Marilyn McRae McCarty | Find A Grave

It legally closed down for burials less than a century later, in 1981. The District of Kent looked after the graveyard until last year, when the Old Cemetery Conservation Plan Sub-Committee was told it would be dissolved.

“It would basically close the Old Cemetery to the public and let it kind of go back to nature, […] so from that point on is when the community came together, and we had a meeting about it.”

Roughly 30 people attended the meeting. After spending some time building a non-profit society, the group presented itself to Council on Monday (Feb. 10).

“It’s really a community project that’s coming together.”

The Society’s purpose is three-fold:

  1. To facilitate the preservation and conservation of the Old Agassiz Cemetery in perpetuity.
  2. To stimulate and encourage community interest in the Old Agassiz Cemetery.
  3. To seek funding sources for the preservation and conservation of the Old Agassiz Cemetery.

Preservation doesn’t necessarily mean stagnation for this growing group. Kennedy said much is to be done with a resource as historic as the Old Cemetery.

“You have to really pick your battles, and preserving our old, historic cemetery was mine!”

The municipal cemetery has approximately 250 burials, many of which are from known settlers in the area, such as the Agassiz family. Kennedy added that this is only one of many benefits to preserving the beloved graveyard.

“We’re always getting questions about people wondering– is that their ancestor up there? We help them with those kinds of things,” said Kennedy. “In the past, we’ve helped people who know their families are up there, […] but they don’t have a plaque, so their descendants now want to put [one] on the place where they’re buried.”

Lesser-known parts of the community’s history are buried there, too. The group found burials of Indigenous people, as well as some Chinese railroad workers who lived in the area. A few years ago, the then-subcommittee also used ground-penetrating radar and found a number of unmarked graves.

“We’re always researching it.”

The team will work with the District under a management agreement if their request is approved. Once the non-profit is up and running, work will be done to add resting benches, better signage, and crossing pathways by the long staircase. The Society may also seek heritage status for the Cemetery.

For long-time history lover and former museum curator Bev Kennedy, the community support is heartwarming.

“You have to really pick your battles, and preserving our old, historic cemetery was mine!” said Kennedy. “I think we have many people who have joined the battle!”

Anyone interested in learning more about the Old Cemetery Preservation Society can reach Bev Kennedy at (604) 796-2459.

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