From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Cemeteries are really interesting places, and I’ve wandered through Vancouver’s Mountain View several times over the years, but I never noticed the Infant Garden before.
Pamela Post* told me about it a few months ago, so I dropped by the cemetery when I was over that way the other week.
It’s an amazing story. Between 1907 and 1972 nearly 11,000 babies were put into unmarked graves at the cemetery. Some of the babies died at birth, others lived for a few hours or a few days, none had markers, few had ceremonies.
Parents were told to suck it up, go home and make more babies.
Over the years, these parents called Mountain View looking for their infants. In 2006, Glen Hodges, cemetery manager, spearheaded an infant garden that would give the babies back their identities, and their parents a special place to come to grieve.
The garden is just a short walk from the main office, chosen because that particular piece of ground was once known as Block 18, the biggest of the mass graves.
Exactly 6,610 tiny, once nameless bodies are buried here.
A boulder marks the entrance of the garden and it is inscribed and dedicated to the families. The garden is designed around a streambed filled with 6,610 stones, many bearing names. And the names are heartbreaking. There’s Baby Girl Quakenbush, April 19, 1934. Beeson Beloved Son was born and died on Christmas Eve 1940. Theresa & Josephine Carolet were one of several sets of twins, these little girls were born and died over two days in May of 1962. There is a marble square in the grass dedicated to Baby Stark June 16, 1956.
The garden should be in full bloom now. Drop by and visit, but before you do listen to Pamela Post’s terrific radio documentary Buried so Deep that ran on CBC’s the Sunday Edition.
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5 comments on “The Infant Garden”
Well that make sense now.If that green house is on 37th then right beside it and slightly to the left was where we saw bones when we use to walk through the ‘boneyard’ on our way to school (John Oliver). We were told it was a mass grave area that was going to be dug up as the graves were over 100 years old and surfacing plus they needed to make more space for new graves..We grew up in this area and were in the Graveyard daily.Freaky thing is I now have a family plot reserved for me (through marriage) so one day I get to go home.. We called this the 3rd graveyard (37th-41st). 2nd one being 33rd-37th and 1st one being on 31st to 33rd.First one is the one I have a plot in closest to 33rd side and the Family name is Tofin.
Cemeteries are fascinating, they can tell you a lot about a place.
Hi Eve;
Stumbled on this today after talking with a friend about the hidden streams under Mountain View Cemetery and how False Creek used to extend well into East Vancouver, which reminded me of the inspiration for the Infant Garden river bed concept (hidden, underground streams) and the CBC Radio doc I produced for The Sunday Edition.
Notice the link you posted to my doc has expired. Here’s a (for now) working link to ‘Buried So Deep.’
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2155909529
Cheers, Pamela
Thanks so much Pamela, I’ve updated the link in the story as well–it’s a great piece!
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