How a former limestone quarry became the one of Canada's most popular tourist destinations.

In 1904, Robert Butchart began producing cement from limestone near Victoria, B.C. His business lasted a short twelve years before exhausting the limestone deposits.

Once the quarry had been abandoned, his wife Jennie Butchart was inspired to create a beautiful and unique garden in the area that once housed the cement factory. Topsoil was brought in by horse and cart to begin the creation of a Japanese Garden, an Italian Garden and a Rose Garden. The gardens were given to the Butchart’s grandson, Ian Ross, on his 21st birthday.

For fifty years Ian worked to make the Butchart Gardens the famous destination that they are today. By the 1920s, more than fifty thousand guests were visiting the gardens each year. The tall chimney of the original cement factory can still be seen from the Sunken Garden Lookout and some of the original cherry trees may also still be seen.

The Gardens are now more popular than ever. Every year they are visited by almost a million people who come for the beauty, the entertainment and the history that the gardens offer.

— Text by Tya Waterman