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Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery(Park)
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The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery is on the north-west side of the Mont-Royal. It is the largest of cemetery in north america. There are 1 000 000 people buried there (in tombs, mauseleums, colombariums, crypts, etc) and 200 000 monuments and tombstones. There are long winding paths going through the various sections of the cemetery, it has in most parts the look of a park, so you can walk around like you would in any other park (they even have bird watching tours). It is not as nice, in some part, as its next door neighbour (the Mount-Royal cemetery), there are less flowers, the stones are closer together and the newest sections are not as well maintained but it is still a nice cemetery. The most interesting sections are the oldest sections (sections B for example is where most crypts are located).
You can't ride your bicycle but you can drive around the cemetery (I don't get that, cars are certainly more disturbing than bicycles) and you can't bring a picnic... There's a large map and description near the main entrance's gate, behind the statues. There's a interactive terminal at the main office (near the main chapel) where you can search for a name and it will print out a map with the location of the corresponding grave.
There are many well known Montreal politician, writers and artists buried there including :
- Émile Nelligan, well known turn of the century poet (lot N588)
- Louis Fréchette, write and poet (lot B213)
- Calixa Lavallée, composer of Canada's national anthem (lot ?)
- Marie Travers (aka La Bolduc), depression-era popular singer (lot ?)
- Olivier Guimond, popular comedian (lot GA1341)
- Camillien-Houde, the last Montreal mayor who passed away (lot A303)
- George-Etienne Cartier (lot 1-0) and D'Arcy McGee (lot K21), fathers of the canadian confederation
- Honoré Mercier (lot K98) and Louis-Hyppolyte Lafontaine (lot K16), Quebec premiers.
- Pierre Laporte, politician kidnapped and killed by the FLQ in 1970 (lot U1806)
P.S. There's no direct way from one cemetery to the other but there's a hole in the fence separating the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges and the Mount-Royal at the end of the Orthodox section of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery.
Web site : Address : 4601 Côte-des-Neiges (the main entrance, near the corner of Ridgewood ave.). There's an entrance on the corner of Decelles and Queen Mary road. Metro station : Guy-Concordia (downtown) the take the 165 north or Côtes-des-Neiges then take the 165 south or Snowdon then take the 166 east Tel. : (514) 735-1361 |
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