with instructor John Adams

By Portia Yip, Marketing Services

Cemeteries are often viewed as scary, ghoulish places, but what if we changed our perspective and saw them as openair classrooms of history?

John Adam’s fascination with cemeteries started when his family moved to a home across from the Ross Bay Cemetery in 1960. His curiosities about the world beyond his doorstep grew into a lifelong passion for local history, storytelling, and helping people see cemeteries as rich archives of community life.

A lifelong fascination with local history

Now a historian and long-time instructor with Continuing Studies at UVic, John is teaching a new online course that explores the history of nearly 25 cemeteries in Victoria.

"I come at cemeteries from a historical point of view," he says. "Although some people would be terrified to even set foot in one, I'm hoping to show people that cemeteries are actually nice places to go."

For John, what began as fun, childhood exploration quickly turned into something meaningful. While wandering the grounds at Ross Bay Cemetery, he discovered the graves of people he had learned about in school, including notable names like Emily Carr, Sir James Douglas and Billy Barker. Soon, he became just as interested in the lesser-known individuals buried there.

"It can be difficult to research other people, but they all have a story, a biography, and were part of the community either collectively or individually," he shares. "History often focuses on the famous, but cemeteries help tell the stories of everyone."

John’s first book, Historic Guide to Ross Bay Cemetery, was published in 1983. He later helped form the Old Cemeteries Society to combat vandalism and inspire public appreciation for historic burial grounds.

Bringing cemetery history into the classroom

In his upcoming course, Victoria's Historic Cemeteries, John will feature archival images, modern photos, and decades of research to explore the lives of both the famous and forgotten community members. Learners will dive into the evolution of tombstones, symbolism, the science and conservation of historic stone markers, and discover what cemeteries reveal about migration, culture, or community identity.

John didn’t originally plan to become a historian, but he says it now feels inevitable and natural. He spent his career working in museums and historic sites in Ontario, Vancouver and Victoria, while also teaching museum studies along the way.

He also runs Discover the Past, known for its historic walking tours and popular ghostly walks in downtown Victoria. While his cemetery course focuses on history, he recognizes the appeal of ghost stories, especially around Halloween.

"At a cemetery, we tend to avoid doing ghost stories, except at Halloween, because there are so many people interested," he observes. "But we really want to emphasize the fact that people are allowed to go to cemeteries if they can get past the idea that they’re scary places."

Currently, John is revising his book, Ghosts and Legends of Bastion Square, and expanding it with new historical research and even more stories. His work overall focuses on connecting past lives with the present. In both his teaching and writing, John invites people to see themselves as part of a continuing story.

"I hope people leave the course feeling more in tune with their community and its past," he says. "History isn’t just about the famous, it’s about all of us."

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About the instructor

• Posted July 28, 2026