Cemeteries of Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

Curacao Cemeteries
Curacao, Netherlands Antilles
Jeff Maass
Updated: 26 September 2010

Westpunt Cemetery
(12 deg 22' 14.40" N, 69 deg 9' 5.58" W)

View of Westpunt Cemetery from the Road

This cemetery is on the main road through Westpunt, a historical fishing village at the most NW point of Curacao.
The entrance is at a bus stop. The lock on the gate was broken, and the gate was wide open, unlike all other
cemeteries that I have seen so far on the island. Behind the cemetery was an elementary school and athletic
fields (note the tall light poles at the rear of this photo).

Curacao cemeteries are comprised primarily of these small above-ground crypts, with from one to four "apartments"
for bodies of a single family. There are some underground or low-to-the-ground graves, but because the ground is so hard to dig, they are uncommon.

A row of crypts at the Westpunt cemetery. Unlike grave markers in the USA, note that there are few markings
identifying the interred person or their dates of birth and death. There are a few with family names on attached
plates, and there are dates roughly scratched into the cement seals on the doors of most crypts. It's not clear
to me at this time if the date is the date of death, or the date the crypt was sealed.

Located in a long-time fishing village, it is not surprising to see the nautical theme on some of the crypts and
graves.