Townsend’s Holy Cross Cemetery

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Located east of Townsend, the seat of Broadwater County, is the county’s Catholic cemetery, Holy Cross Cemetery. Established in the early 20th century, the earliest grave marker I located was from 1914.

Members of the Neild family were among the cemetery’s earliest burials. A ro
East side of cemetery

The cemetery is still active but most burials date to the middle decades of the 20th century. A drive divides the cemetery into two large rectangles. Trees and ornamental plantings separate the place from the surrounding prairie.

East side of cemetery
West side of cemetery
West side of cemetery. Note the depressions in the ground, an indication of unmarked graves.

The cemetery has no artistic wonders among its grave markers but it has many of interest, including the Moran hand-carved sandstone marker below from 1925.

The R.M. Williams hard scribed marker in concrete dates 1925.
The Anna McDonald (d. 1917) marker combines Victorian details with the Bible motif.
The McGuin and Bubser markers convey a rough-cut stone look, suggesting permanence.
The open Bible and gates of heaven motifs define the marker of Lt. Robin Pennington, who died in World War II. “Greater love hath no man than a man lay down his life for his friends” reads the epitaph.

The ethnic diversity of Townsend’s Catholic community is directly expressed in several tombstones.

The Holy Cross Cemetery is a well maintained and dignified place even as it is surrounded by development on two sides. It is a significant contribution to the building of community institutions in Townsend and Broadwater County during the height of the pre-World War I homesteading boom.

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