Cemetery Overlooking the Arctic Ocean
Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada
Geographers love cemeteries. They are sometimes the only public open space around, and they reflect the local history with a somber truthfulness. They are sometimes also very evocative places, situated next to the church in the heart of the community, or on the brow of a hill, overlooking the landscape that once nurtured the people now buried there.
The cemetery in Tuk looks out over the Arctic Ocean, very appropriate for a people as oriented to the sea as the Inuit. Graves must be shallow because of the underlying permafrost, so new graves are heaped up high above ground.
Next: The Igloo Church in Inuvik