Description of Historic Place

The Icelandic Pioneer Cemetery is a tree-sheltered burial site marked with a granite monument and two headstones and located near some residential and commercial properties alongside a main road in Gimli. The municipal designation applies to the small parcel of land.

Heritage Value

The Icelandic Pioneer Cemetery, a tidy landscaped site with few physical symbols of its purpose, is the first Icelandic cemetery established in Manitoba and the oldest Icelandic public cemetery in Canada. Opened in 1875 on a tract of land that was granted by the Government of Canada and initially called the Republic of New Iceland, the cemetery is an important link to the Icelandic pioneers who settled along the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. It also is significant as a burial and memorial site for victims of the 1876-77 smallpox epidemic, a great tragedy that decimated settlers and Aboriginal peoples in the Interlake region. The well-kept cemetery is a poignant historical landmark that recognizes the struggles of early Icelandic immigrants in the Gimli area.

Source: Rural Municipality of Gimli By-law No. 07-0028, June 27, 2007

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the site character of the Icelandic Pioneer Cemetery include:
- its location just south of the intersection of two provincial roads in Gimli on relatively flat and grassed grounds, with a shelter belt of evergreen and deciduous trees and a clump of mature trees within
- the fence and gateway bearing the cemetery's name

Key elements that define the cemetery's heritage character and memorial function include:
- the burials, including their east-west orientation
- the few headstones with engravings
- the large granite monument on a concrete base commemorating the victims of the 1876-77 smallpox epidemic
- the public access