Our Lady of Peace Cemetery (Big Valley, Stettler County)

The Our Lady of Peace Cemetery plaque was donated by Denis and Mary McCarty in 1917.  Restoration was done in 1983 with financial assistance from Big Valley Seniors and the Province of Alberta.

Big Valley, situated in the County of Stettler No. 6, was founded in the early 20th century and incorporated as a village in 1914. The region saw waves of settlers, principally European immigrants, ranchers and farmers who established churches, fraternal societies, community halls and cemeteries as part of building social infrastructure.

Specific archival details for the Our Lady of Peace Cemetery in Big Valley remains elusive, however,  the cemetery can be understood within the broader context of early-20th-century rural Catholic settlement in central Alberta. It would have been established to serve the spiritual needs of the local Catholic community, become a repository of local heritage through its burials of pioneer families, and over time likely faced the same maintenance and heritage-preservation issues common to many small rural burial grounds.