Cemetery walks are contemplative as well as a source of fascinating information about the past lives of local inhabitants. Nelson does not disappoint with three notable cemeteries to visit while exploring Nelson city gardens and parks. Here’s your trip planner for a day exploring Nelson and where the bodies are buried.
Old Trafalgar Cemetery has been reimagined as Fairfield Park was one of Nelson’s first cemeteries. The first graves were dug in 1851 with over 78 graves before the cemetery was closed in 1910.
For a detailed list of forgotten lives, scroll through the fascinating Graves of Fairfield Park – Nelson article with deaths from drowning at river crossings and diseases now banished to the history books.
The Marsden Valley Cemetery is an attractively planted, picturesque area with well laid out pathways, ideal for a leisurely stroll. Near the gate in the Marsden Valley, there is a Memorial Walk with plaques laid out on pathways under large redwoods and larches…
Find out more about Marsden Valley Cemetery walk.
The Clifton Recreation Reserve covers an impressive 45 hectares on a low-lying spit across the Motupipi Estuary, west of Pohara in Golden Bay. Part of the Reserve is a historically significant cemetery with up to 150 burials. Graves are unmarked. The oldest headstone is for Agnes Gibson who died 14 February 1866.
Discover more about Clifton Reserve in What’s so great about Takaka, Golden Bay
Since 1861 some 16,000 people have been buried at Wakapuaka Cemetery. The first recorded burial was that of Grace Annie Everett, child of 16 months, buried 8 December 1861.
Well known Nelson residents buried at Wakapuaka Cemetery include:
Explore a historic cemetery where the early settlers of Nelson story is told on tombstones. There are spectacular views from Wakapuaka cemetery, a beautiful walk through hundred year old redwoods in Marsden, Stoke and an intriguing park with historic graves peeping out from under bushes in Fairfield Park.
Nelson cemeteries is part of nzjane series on Cemeteries of New Zealand – Best Bits with the odd ghostly story adding to the sense of theatre.
In Nelson’s Golden Bay Collingwood’s historic cemetery is where headstones narrate stories of shipwrecks, floods, epidemics and early childhood deaths.
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The ornate wrought iron grave fences invite photographers inside to amble through the atmospheric grounds.
For heritage buffs, find out more about places to visit in Nelson art, heritage & culture trail – Best Bits.
BEST BITS TRAVEL GUIDE
Best Bits travel guide is published by nzjane.com. Owned and managed by PacificJane Ltd.
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