Courtesy E. Hawkins/GNWT
Back Bay Cemetery: City of Yellowknife Heritage Site
Statement of Significance
Back Bay Cemetery, a City of Yellowknife Heritage Site, consists of 35 gravesites from 1938-46. The cemetery is located along the waterfront in Jackfish Draw, adjacent to Back Bay, and on Great Slave Lake. Also known as the Pioneer Graveyard, this is Yellowknife’s original cemetery.
Heritage Value
Back Bay Cemetery is Yellowknife’s first graveyard. The cemetery is associated with many of Yellowknife’s pioneering families, and the early years of Yellowknife. Its surrounding natural environment continues to capture this pioneering spirit.
Back Bay is the only cemetery from the early 1900’s within city limits. The majority of gravesites in the cemetery are marked by wooden picket fences, which are typical of this period.
Back Bay Cemetery is in a very attractive and convenient waterfront location. It is located on a popular walking trail, and is accessible by boat, making it a valued community resource.
Character-Defining Elements
- The natural surroundings of trees, water and rocky cliffs
- Well-aged and weathered patina of the grave markers
- Wooden picket fence grave markers, and other grave elements typical of northern Christian burial styles
- The inter-relationships between the gravesites, and the gravesites and waterfront, which respect historical patterns of accessibility and visibility
- Well-groomed yet rustic walking trails
Sources
City of Yellowknife By-Law 3924
Yellowknife Historical Building Inventory 2013, City of Yellowknife
