This was part of my road trip through the Hand Hills area of Alberta on August 22, 2015. This is the second church marker of this kind that I have seen. The church started in 1913 and is still active today.
It looks like it had an addition at one time. The church was locked which is to be expected these days. It would have been interesting to see the inside.
The graveyard is off in the corner and is very well kept. This is common with every Lutheran church that I have run across.
I have never seen a grave marker like this. There are words on the outside and it has a hinged steel door.
Open the door and you find fine German script. I find things like this amazing. This is not an elaborate or ornate marker but it has likely outlasted the lettering on a number of stone markers.
In an isolated corner apart from the other graves is a small set of graves. Everyone in these ones died within days of each other in September 1918. This is a guess on my part and I am thinking that the possible cause of death might have been the Spanish Influenza Epidemic. Otherwise I do not know why they would have been segregated.
Wow! Never saw a marker like that! Was the inscription painted or burned into a piece of wood and then placed inside the box? Wonder what story it tells. Excellent find, BW!
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