Cumberland Cemetery
This page was last reviewed on September 22, 2025.
Cumberland Cemetery
Cumberland cemetery is a unique place. It is an historic cemetery, established in 1895, and the resting place of generations of Cumberlanders. The landscape is rolling and dry, the ground covered with moss and kinnikinnick. Originally administered by the Board of Employees Medical Fund of Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Ltd, the cemetery was transferred to the Village of Cumberland in 1954.
The cemetery is located at 4430 Memorial Way (previously Minto Road) in Cumberland, which is accessed from the Comox Valley Parkway.
The cemetery features:
- Traditional family ground lots accommodating one full burial and four cremated remains in contemporary sections of the cemetery as well as in historic sections of the cemetery
- A natural burial area with lots accommodating a full burial and a cremation burial; and small lots along the tree line accommodating two cremation burials.
- A columbaria niche wall
- Child lots
- An upright headstone or block marker may be placed on most lots in the cemetery
Planning for future works include
- New ground lots in historic sections of the cemetery
- Central interment area with seating and gathering area, scattering garden, and columbaria niche walls
- Double cremation lots
Cemetery Maps
Map of the Historic Protestant Section
Map of the Historic Catholic Section
Cemetery Gate Hours
The cemetery is open dawn to dusk. The vehicle gate is open daily:
- April 1 to October 30: 8 am to 8 pm
- October 31 to March 31: 9 am to 5 pm
Contact Us
Contact the Village office at 250-336-2291 or by email at info@cumberland.ca to inquire about:
- reserving a lot or a columbaria niche at the cemetery
- interments in a new lot or an existing family lot
- natural burial
- finding a family lot
- marker placement
Fees for Interments and Memorial Marker Installation
All fees increase 2% on January 1 each year.
To learn more and to discuss options, please contact the Village Office at info@cumberland.ca to discuss your needs. View the Cemetery Management Bylaw for detailed information.
Transfer or Surrender of a Right of Interment
An interment right holder or that person’s representative may transfer a right of interment to a family member. A right of interment may also be surrendered to the Village. Please contact the Village office at 250-336-2291 or at info@cumberland.ca for more information.
Cemetery and Funeral Information Resources
In BC, cemeteries and funeral service providers are regulated by the BC Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act. Consumer Protection BC is the regulatory and licensing authority.
Resources:
Consumer Information on Cemeteries
Consumer Information on Funeral Services
Green Burial Society of Canada
Excerpt from the heritage statement of significance (2018):
Established in 1895, the Cumberland Cemetery is considered to be an essential and unique feature of Cumberland, valued as the resting place for generations of Cumberland’s citizens. It represents a tangible link between those living and those buried, and to the community’s past through its natural landscape features, physical layout, and built elements such as grave markers and monuments. Today, it retains a connection to early families that still remain in Cumberland and the surrounding area.
Constructed on a portion of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway land grant owned by Robert Dunsmuir’s Canadian Collieries Dunsmuir Ltd., the cemetery is important for being representative of the role that the coal mining company played in the area. Its connection and importance to the mining community is found in its original design and layout of family burial grounds and grave sites by Union colliery surveyor Frank Smith. In addition to citizens of Cumberland, the cemetery became the final resting place for many Union Bay, Bevan and #8 Mine townsite residents, communities established by, and associated with, the colliery.
The original layout of the cemetery reflects the spiritual, social and political norms of the time, as well as the diversity of Cumberland’s population. Historically, two separate cemeteries with different entrances for Catholics and Protestants existed. The two were combined in 1983 and now use a common entranceway. Japanese Canadians and Chinese Canadians had separate cemeteries altogether.
Search again