Don’t you just love how I run around the West Reserve, not really knowing much about the history (not the way locals do, anyway!) and then “reporting back”, mostly about stuff I didn’t understand? Okay yeah, well here I go again! I suspect everyone from Morden and maybe even as far as Altona will know what’s up with Glencross.
But I don’t.
Glencross is confusing to me, because the name sounds Scottish, and in fact when we were exploring the cemetery, we found that it seems the majority of the gravestones had Scottish or English surnames.
Even the style of the burial grounds is different from Mennonite styles, with these beautiful gates:
Mind you, it’s not necessarily so strange to have Mennonites and Englishers sharing the same cemetery. But in the photo below, you can see a building left of the cemetery. Might seem kind of familiar…
It’s familiar… because it’s a Mennonite church!
With its own — separate — cemetery out back!
I don’t know the story here but I wonder if perhaps this site started out as a Scottish settlement but then the Mennonites slowly moved in and the Scots moved out, or something? I notice the church was built in 2003… not sure if it was a new build or to replace an existing building. Perhaps when the Braun monument was erected in 1972, there was no Mennonite church in this location.
I searched for answers on the church’s website, but was unable to find a history of the congregation. If you recall the history of this location, I’d love it if you’d share the info with me!
