Glenrosa Cemetery added to heritage register in West Kelowna

OLD BURIAL GROUND MAINLY USED FOR CHILDREN

WEST KELOWNA – The Glenrosa Cemetery is officially being added to the West Kelowna heritage register and there are plans to study three more possible historic sites as well.

Glenrosa Cemetery, hidden in plain sight on the side of Glenrosa Road, is the burial ground for 10 children and at least three adults. Among those adults is Archibald Murchie, the prominent photographer who named the new area in 1905 and was buried there in 1930.

The burial ground, now overgrown, was primarily used for children beginning in 1911 at a time when most adults who died were sent to the Peachland Cemetery. A number of the children buried in the cemetery are believed to have died of the Spanish Flu and some of the headstones are blank, the result of weathering over the years.

Its inclusion on the heritage register will potentially allow restoration and preservation of the site, according to a staff report by development services, although it will not be used for new interments.

Three other sites — the Hitchner Saw Mill, Gellatly Cemetery and Mount Boucherie itself — will all be catalogued and assessed for their historical importance. Should they be identifed as historically significant, those sites will be presented to council for inclusion on the register in 2016.

Mount Boucherie has long been identified as socially and culturally significant to the area and staff say its inclusion will allow the city to manage risks, such as public use and fire, and improve recreational access.

West Kelowna began its heritage register in 2014 with the inclusion of the Gellatly Landing park and the CNR wharf.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.