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Artist helps pinpoint Woodlands graves

The News Leader
Heather Gardiner - Wednesday, March 4, 2009

GPS isn’t just for getting directions, it can now be used to dig up family history.

Local artist Michael de Courcy has found a way to use GPS to locate the headstones that were removed from the Woodlands cemetery in New Westminster, and it is the inspiration for his art exhibition at the Amelia Douglas Gallery at Douglas College running until April 4.

He will display maps of the Woodlands site, historical documents, photographs, a list of all 3,065 headstone names and GPS co-ordinates. Woodlands was built as the Provincial Lunatic Asylum in 1878 and later, in 1950, it became the Woodlands School for children with disabilities. In 1976, the original headstones of deceased residents were removed from the cemetery and used as recycled materials for renovation projects, therefore dispersing them. Woodlands was closed by the province in 2003. That’s when it caught Courcy’s attention and he began his research.
Seven years later, he has created a grid map of the site that will allow people to re-trace their family history.
“I’m not interested in making things to put in my drawer or on my wall or to sell,” he said. “I’m making things that function in people’s lives.”