This time of year is always exciting. You can have the dreariest days that go on for days as winter inches closer. And then you get the most spectacular sunny day thrown at you that you just need to get out and enjoy. This Sunday was one of those spectacular sunny days. We had our routine breakfast and then went straight to a beautiful little garden in New Westminster.
The Woodlands Memorial Garden.
Woodlands opened in 1878, known at the time as the Provincial Lunatc Asylum. Then named The Provincial Hospital for the Insane in 1897. And in 1950 the name was changed yet again to Woodlands School. The School closed in 1996. Over 3000 persons with disabilities who died while residents in Woodlands were buried there between 1920 - 1958. The cemetery officially closed in 1977.
Over the next few decades, many of the grave markers were misplaced or used as building materials. Sadly, some were taken and used in the barbeque patio on the lands and in a retaining wall in the nearby ravine.
Plans for the Memorial Garden began in 1999. Over 500 grave markers were recovered, cleaned and set into the memorial walls. Today the peaceful Memorial sits in the centre of modern highrises. A subdued yet beautiful reminder of the darker past of mental health care.
On the drive home we passed a few (not as many as there used to be) houses done up for Halloween.
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