Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery Walking Tours – Spring and Summer 2013

Walking Tour Poster Page

Saturday, April 27 – 10:00 am to 12:00 pm – Walking tour – Mountain View’s 1919 section

Mountain View Cemetery – meet at the Celebration Hall, 5445 Fraser Street (enter at 39th Ave.);  cost: $10 per person (cash only please)

Join Lorraine Irving from the BC Genealogical Society for a walking tour of the 1919 section of the cemetery. Located on the south side of 41st Avenue, this section is the last resting place for Joe Fortes, the best loved Vancouver lifeguard, and Janet Smith whose murder has never been officially solved. As well, there are other murder victims, those that died in the sinking of the S.S. Sophia and Britannia Mine disaster, there’s the first memorial for the Sons of Italy, a memorial for firemen, and much more.

Monday, June 10 – 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm – Walking tour – Food Traditions at Mountain View

Mountain View Cemetery -meet at Celebration Hall, 5445 Fraser Street (enter at 39th Ave.);  $10 per person (cash only please)

Community historian Chris Mathieson takes you on a tour exploring the history of Vancouver’s relationship with food, through introductions to fishermen, farmers, hunters, shopkeepers, brewers and more. We’ll also discuss food traditions associated with death and cemeteries.

Sunday, July 14 – 10:00 am to 12:00 pm – Walking tour – Chinese, Japanese and Jewish sections of Mountain View Cemetery.

Mountain View Cemetery – meet at Celebration Hall, 5445 Fraser Street (enter at 39th Ave.);  cost: $10 per person (cash only please)

Historian Maurice Guibord leads a walk exploring the Chinese, Japanese and Jewish sections of Mountain View Cemetery. These sections are fascinating examples of the segregation that existed even in cemeteries during the 19th and 20th centuries. Each of these three areas evokes cultural traits of communities that were seeking a foothold in Vancouver’s society. We will discuss the disinterment of Chinese remains, until 1937, to be repatriated to China for reburial with their ancestors; the self-segregation of a burgeoning Jewish congregation; and the survival of an impressive swastika-decorated Japanese obellist through the Second World War.

Sunday, August 4 – Women’s History Walking tour of Mountain View with Lorraine Irving, M. Diane Rogers and Jolene Cumming, co-sponsored by the BC Genealogical Society and the Herstory Cafe.  Watch for details soon.

Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery tour information: http://vancouver.ca/your-government/visit-mountain-view-cemetery.aspx

E-mail contact: mountain.view@vancouver.ca
Telephone: 604 325 2646

Simon Fraser University’s Scottish Studies Department celebrates Tartan Day, Monday, April 8th, 2013 at SFU’s Vancouver’s Harbour Centre Campus, Room 1410, at 7:30-9:30 pm.  Scottish Studies is launching an interactive website, “Scots in BC,” and the evening will feature music by members of the Vancouver Scottish Fiddle Orchestra and dancing by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.

Follow this link for more about the Simon Fraser University Scots in BC project. There will be a way to add information about British Columbia’s Scottish families to the new website. We will add that link here as soon as it’s announced.

See the SFU Scottish Studies webpages for more information, or to contact the SFU Scottish Studies Department. The poster is available here – SFU_TartanDayPoster 2013 in a .pdf format.