Cemetery Tours

Apparently, people really enjoy cemetery tours. So far this weekend, we have led 3 heritage cemetery tours, with a total of 145 people attending. I'll be leading another one tonight. The most popular tour was Friday night at 11:00 pm, with just over 100 people in attendance. That one was led by Jen Busch, and she couldn't believe the groups of people who kept arriving.

I have been leading heritage cemetery tours for about 20 years, and they have always been more popular than the city walking tours we offer. I think the reason for this is that when we are in the cemetery, we are focusing on people, not on buildings and dates. The cemetery is where we tell the stories of people's lives and who doesn't love a good story?

The story that I personally find most moving is that of Jennie. Her marker says, in English, "Jennie - Japanese" and also has some Japanese script, which thanks to my friends Tomo and Yuko has been mostly translated. It gives her age, 24, and the date of her death: April 19, 1905. Her last name could have been Kiohara, but we are not certain. We know that she was in Revelstoke by 1903, established in a brothel on Front Street, and that she was brutally murdered in 1905. Her murder was never solved. The newspaper of the day describes her wounds in detail, and also describes the weapon and much of the other evidence. There was obviously no such thing as a publication ban back then. Jennie had been most likely forced into prostitution at a young age, and then was reviled for her lifestyle. The newspaper account ends by saying that the Japanese community refused to assist the police because they said she was not worth hanging a man for. A very sad ending to what must have been a very sad life.