The Joneses Go Cruising, Part 6: A Few Of My Favorite Things

This last post is very long, but it finishes the posts for our Alaskan Adventure.

Our last port of call was Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. We visited the Butchart Gardens, owned by (you guessed it) the Butchart family.  Mr. Butchart made his fortune in making cement. The family bought this property in the early 1900s because of the limestone in the area, needed for the production of cement. 

While Mrs. Butchart loved gardens,

Mr. Butchart was into rare birds.

In fact, on a trip to Europe to replace a rare duck that had died, Mr. Butchart, in the course of procuring the duck, was late getting to the ship the family was to board to take them back to the US. They were forced to take the next ship.  The ship they missed? 

The Titanic.

Before this area was a garden, it was a large open limestone quarry. When it was quarried out, Mrs. Butchart turned it into a sunken garden. Those tall trees in the back were planted to hide the cement factory.

You can see the cement factory from this angle.

It is hard describe how beautiful and extensive these 56 acres of garden are.

The garden had topiaries, 

ponds,

 fountains,

Japanese gardens,

various trees,

bushes,

shade gardens,

 specimen plants,

and a large rose garden in full bloom.

I don't think I've ever seen so many colors and types of roses, including my favorite, the peace rose.

They use no chemical pesticides in these gardens, which is remarkable.

The final stop in the garden was an Italian garden.

It is quite colorful

and I like the way the side of the building is covered with growing things. I'm totally going to try this at home.

 I decided I would dedicate the rest of my life to pulling weeds at the garden. Stan says they have enough weed-pullers. I tried to sneak off and get left behind. Stan told me it was time to go, he's sure there are plenty of weeds to pull in our yard. I have since discovered that he's right.

After we left the gardens, we went to Craigdarroch Castle. This home was built by a coal baron named Robert Dunsmuir. 

The castle is famous for the extensive use of wood shipped from Chicago.

and fabulously intricate woodwork,

as well as for the beautiful stained glass windows found in almost every room. Parts of Little Women (2004ish?) were filmed here.

The castle took 3 years to build and was completed in 1890. Unfortunately, Mr. Dunsmuir died just before completion and never lived here, but his wife and children did.

In the 1890s when this house was completed, an average home in the area cost $600 to build. A very nice mansion cost $15,000-$20,000.  This mansion cost $500,000 in 1890.

The Dunsmuirs had 10 children, many of whom died tragically. Five daughters lived to adulthood and were married. None of the children wanted to inherit the house.

 

The property was eventually subdivided and sold off as lots.

The family was unable to find a buyer for the main house.

The house has 25,000 square feet and 5 stories.  

Hard to believe no one wanted it. Perhaps no one wanted to do that much dusting and vacuuming.

The house was eventually raffled off (the winner purchased the house for the cost of a $1 raffle ticket).

When the new owner went bankrupt, the home passed through a variety of hands and was, over the years, a hospital, college, office for a school board, a music conservatory, and (currently) a museum.

 tile floor

The house has electric and gas lighting, hot and cold running water, telephones, and central heating.  Even the back staircase was elaborate.

As we headed back to the ship, we passed the Parliament, which is lit up every night. They only exception was during WW II, when the city was afraid the building would become a target for air raids.

This is the one stop where I would have liked to have spent more time.  There is so much to see in this beautiful city, yet we arrived around 6:30 pm and had to be back on board by 11:30 pm. This is the one place I would definitely like to revisit.