Taylor Cemetery (Vulcan County)

During the inter-war period (1918-1939), consecutive years of crop failure caused by drought and extreme weather prompted the near wholesale abandonment of much of southeastern Alberta. This decades-long environmental disaster, made worse by isolation and economic depression, forced several thousand settlers to leave behind their land and dreams of a new life on the prairie.

For some, the decision to leave meant parting with something even more dear: Loved ones who had passed on, their remains buried forever in lonely and sometimes forgotten prairie graveyards.

This graveyard, Taylor Cemetery, has existed in its present location in the Kinnondale community since 1918. It’s only identified occupant, Ms. Marie Beatrice Taylor, succumbed to tuberculosis at age 18 and was buried here on her family’s homestead. After the Taylor family moved on their homestead continued to function as a community cemetery, and several others were buried here in the following years.

In recent times, emigration, the elements and the influence of man have all but erased the memory of the Kinnondale pioneers who were laid to rest here. By preserving Taylor cemetery, these pioneers are honoured and the often-tragic reality of life for the first homesteaders on these plains is recognized.