Hamilton Junction : The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery Photo Project: Part One

The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Canada and the third-largest in North America. I have visited it numerous times, as my family lives just blocks from the main entrance in Montreal. Still, I have hardly scratched the surface of the fascinating stories and lives that are buried there. The cemetery has been operated by the building council of the Notre Dame parish since 1854. For more on it's history, visit the cemetery's website.

I have thought for a while now about how to best present the photos I've taken, since there are so many different ways the stories of the cemetery can be told. In many ways, the stories of the cemetery reflect the stories, complexities, and ironies of the living city, and is organized similarly. I've decided to let the photos speak for themselves and present them in an arbitrary order, similar to how I took each photo during my visit.

One of over 65,000 monuments in the main cemetery. Often, these monuments do not mark the place of burial of the individuals listed but serve as family memorial.

Gilded Angel at the Entree Remembrance

In 1989, many graves were moved from other city cemeteries to the Notre-Dame Des Neiges Cemetery. Those that were not immediately claimed were given makeshift grave markers like this one. Family members were given until 2015 to claim a relative's gravesite and replace the temporary markers with tombstones. Today, the field resembles a Potter's Field, with homemade markers, and numerous ones identical to the one above.

Rows upon rows of military burials.

On the family vault of the John Molson family. The vault is immense, built into the side of a large hill.

The front door to the Molson family vault.

Headstone of Ann Molson, wife of John Molson

This headstone does not mark a burial site, but serves as a memorial to three young men who drowned in the St. Lawrence River in 1866.

Icy hand of Jesus

Many headstones before the 20th century list the cause of death of one or more of the individuals listed. Found in the cemetery are headstones listing as cause of death Scarlett fever, tuberculosis, cholera, fires, drownings, and many more.

Charles Melville Hays was a passenger on the Titanic when it sank in 1912.
His official date of death is given as April 15, 1912

This grandiose vault was built to commemorate the life of Salvatore Gervasi, a member of the infamous Gervasi mob family. He was murdered and stuffed in the trunk of his Porsche (which was then parked in front of his parents' house in Montreal) .