Not the Painter Creek Cemetery

Visited this place with a friend of mine in Paintearth County, Alberta. There is a large cross in a fair sized plot of land. At the southwestern edge of the parcel are a line of graves. We found eight grave markers, none more recent than 1926. It is on Township Road 400 east of Highway 855 north of Halkirk, Alberta.

We found a large metal sign in the grass by the cross. The sign was upside down. Since I read better when things are right side up we managed to flip the heavy sign over. The sign said "Painter Creek Cemetery".

Shortly after that I looked over and saw a large Dodge truck has just blocked my access to the road and a guy started walking towards me. I started walking towards him. He said "I see you two are back". Not sure what that was about, however after a short chat we managed to show that we were just looking for places of interest and that this was the first time we had been there. Rural crime is an issue and sometimes you might get checked out by a local farmer. I usually give out my business card to identify myself. He does some upkeep on the cemetery. Old cemeteries that fell out of use years ago are not always maintained by the jurisdiction. He maintains it when he has the time and he made the sign. He informed us that the name on the sign is not the original name of the cemetery. He made the sign so the cemetery would have a sign. The original name is too long. He told us there are about forty burials there. I know it is referred to as Tinchebray Cemetery by some people.

I phoned the county office during the weekday and asked if they knew the name of the cemetery. As close as they could tell me it is the Evangelical Lutheran Church Paintearth Creek Cemetery. It has been so many years that they did not know the exact original name but that is the name they have on file.