Rosebud Cemetery (Wheatland County)

Rosebud Cemetery is one of two cemeteries owned and maintained by Wheatland County. The cemetery is located a short walk just north and west of the Hamlet of Rosebud. The other county-owned cemetery is located in the Hamlet of Gleichen 60km South of Rosebud. As of 2022, there were 127 persons interred at Rosebud Cemetery

Since spring of 2015, County crews have been working at these two community cemeteries, as well as the Gleichen Catholic and the Eventide Cemeteries, to remove overgrown vegetation and broken grave covers, as well as repair monuments, to ensure the area is attractive and safe for visitors and workers. Funding for this project comes in part from the County, and there are opportunities to donate money as well.

Source: https://wheatlandcounty.ca/locations/rosebud-cemetery/

Hamlet of Rosebud
The Hamlet of Rosebud is located within Wheatland County, and is located approximately 100km Northeast of Calgary. It sits in a sheltered valley on the Rosebud River near the edge of the Canadian Badlands. This area was called Akokiniskway by the Blackfoot people, which translates roughly to “by the river of many roses”.

The hamlet was founded in the 1885 by James Wishart. While following the Gleichen Trail to Montana with his family, they awoke to the river valley covered by wild roses, Alberta’s official flower. Wishart then reportedly said, “Here’s the promised land, we go no further.” Over the years, farming and coal mining have been the primary industries. In 1972 the Severn Creek School was shut down as part of an Alberta wide education consolidating process and local children were bused to nearby Standard and Drumheller. This resulted in many of the local businesses being closed and the hamlet population dropped to under a dozen people. However, the farming community of around 400 still support a seed cleaning plant.

On Easter 1973, a group of young adults from Calgary brought about 40 teenagers out and camped in the then empty mercantile. This pilot event evolved into a summer camp initially funded by a grant from the Alberta government and then supported as Rosebud Camp of the Arts by Crescent Heights Baptist Church in Calgary. In 1977 a high school was founded using the old buildings of the town as classrooms and emphasizing practical, visual, music and the performing arts in its curriculum. In the 1980s, Rosebud School of the Arts began to run theatre, which eventually developed into Rosebud Theatre and the school shifted its emphasis to post-secondary education. Today Rosebud Theatre runs as a fully professional company that offers programming year round and is a tourist attraction drawing an estimated 40,000 visitors a year.

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Rosebud had a population of 112. Previously an incorporated municipality, Rosebud dissolved from village status on January 1, 1946, to become part of the Municipal District of Grasswold No. 248.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosebud%2C_Alberta