Irvine, Alberta

Dec 19 – Irvine, AB:  An ornate grave fence in the cemetery for Germans from Russia.  I learned about the history of the “Volga Germans”, who had been welcomed into Russia by Catherine the Great during European religious wars, given privileges of religious freedom and exemption from military service.  Generations later, while these people  still lived separately and maintained their German culture, their privileges were taken away, and many people moved to the American and Canadian Midwest.   Here in Irvine is the St. Georges Parish Cemetery, where blacksmiths used wagon-wheel rims and scrap metal to make ornate grave markers.

info:  Wikipedia & Germans from Russia Heritage Collection

image: https://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/