VERIGIN MEMORIAL PARK
Verigin Memorial Park is a Doukhobor burial site and flower garden located on a hillside approximately 2.5 km off Highway 3A between Castlegar and Nelson. It is a tranquil place with spectacular scenic views of the Kootenay and Columbia River Valleys. The meticulously manicured flower gardens and grounds are funded and maintained by the USCC organization with support from other Doukhobor societies and friends.
The Verigin Tomb contains the remains of Peter V. Verigin and his son, Peter P. Verigin as well as their wives. Also buried on this site are the remains of Peter P. Verigin’s daughter, Anna F. Markova. As capable leaders, the Verigins have made an immense contribution to the Doukhobor movement in the last century in both a practical and spiritual sense, earning the great respect and loyalty of their followers. The local community to this day, holds annual commemorative services to remember and celebrate the dedication and commitment of the Verigins and indeed, the dedication of all ancestors who committed their lives to peace and universal brotherhood.
There is little remaining evidence of the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) agro-industrial complex that once occupied the river banks below the Verigin Park between 1913 and 1938. Peter V. Verigin administered this community, as well as a similar facility in Grand Forks, until his untimely death in 1924. This burial site was chosen for its central yet panoramic vantage point, along what was then the main highway. It was also near Peter Verigin's beautiful hillside home from which he overlooked with satisfaction and pride, the prosperity of the communities below.
The original Verigin tomb was constructed of dark polished marble, with classical colonnades and carved relief panels. It was garnished with two symmetrically placed stone carvings of wheat sheaves that represented one of his well known slogans - “Toil and Peaceful Life”. A number of remnants of the original tomb remain as artifacts, the tomb itself having been reconstructed of more modest concrete. The park is open to the public in the summer season and a modern guest house with visual displays and restrooms has been recently constructed for the benefit of park visitors.
Peter Vasiliyevitch Verigin was born June 29, 1858 in the village of Slavyanka in the province of Elizavetpol in the Transcaucasus Region of Russia (now Ajerbaijan). He was also known affectionately as “Petyushka” and respectfully as “Peter Lordly”. He died on October 29, 1924, from injuries in an unexplained train explosion near the railway station at Farron, close to the summit of the Blueberry Paulson highway. He was the first of the Verigins to be interred at this burial site.
Peter Petrovitch Verigin, Peter Lordly’s son, was born January 2, 1881, as his father, in the province of Elizavetpol. He succeeded his father in his leadership of the CCUB Doukhobors in Canada from 1927 until the collapse of the community in 1938. Despite ill health in has latter years, he restructured the CCUB into our current organization - the USCC. Peter P. Verigin “Chistiakov” died in Saskatoon, Sask. on February 11, 1939. and was buried beside the remains of his father.
The daughter of Peter Petrovitch Verigin, and mother of the current honorary chairman of the USCC (John J. Verigin), Anna Petrovna Markova was born on January 01, 1902 in the Soviet Union where she lived a difficult life, unjustly spending 15 years in exile, separated from her family. She emigrated to Canada in 1960 where she died on September 13, 1978. Her courage, strength and wisdom will forever remain an inspiration to all Doukhobors. She is buried on the grounds of the tomb, near her father. Also buried on site are Peter V. Verigin's wife - Evdokia Gregorevna Verigina (Katelnikova) and Peter P. Verigin's wife - Anna Fedornova Verigina (Chernenkova).
