Beacon Hill Park

Beacon Hill Park is a publicly owned 154 acres (some sites say 200) of fields, trees, hills, wildflowers, trails, gardens, and many other natural and man-produced features, some of which I’ll feature below.

According to the websites linked below, the original inhabitants of the park were the Lekwungen people (http://www.beaconhillparkhistory.org/contents/chapter1.htm). There is still archeological evidence of them, including the existence of burial cairns (http://www.friendsofbeaconhillpark.ca/history.htm#cairns) hidden throughout the park.

A few things of interest: There is a children’s farm in the park (http://beaconhillchildrensfarm.ca/) with goats and sheep and other critters, including a lot of peacocks. I am thankful we don’t live closer to the park because peacocks are really loud, and sometimes I can still hear them 6 blocks away at our place. Wouldn’t want to be any closer! There is also a giant totem pole (one of the world’s tallest( at one of the paths to the park from Dallas Road that was constructed in 1954 by Kwakwaka’wakw artist Mungo Martin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungo_Martin)

The park is full of native plants and trees, for example, camas lilies (blooming early this year) and Gary oaks (http://www.goert.ca/about/index.php). Great blue herons nest in the park as well, and there are definitely all kinds of other wildlife in the park such as ducks, raccoons, squirrels and deer.

It’s a bustling place in the summer, and a bit quieter at this time of year. Perfect for a quiet walk and a bit of reflection.

Note that there are a lot of pictures in this post – more than any of my other A to Z posts will have, given that the park is HUGE and there is so much to see.  Just telling you!

These streets are made for walkers (and bikes…)

Little lakes are everywhere

As are flower beds

And a rose garden – won’t be blooming for awhile yet

Fields of wild flowers including daffodils and camas

Here is the totem pole

And the reconstructed burial cairns

Some of the wild life, including those noisy peacocks, ducks and the blue herons

Lots of sites of interest throughout the park

Including lawn bowling

The Children’s Farm

And the bandstand

Websites of interest:

• Beacon Hill Park History: http://www.beaconhillparkhistory.org/
• Friends of Beacon Hill Park Society: http://www.friendsofbeaconhillpark.ca/index.htm
• First Nations Burial Ground at Beacon Hill Park: http://www.victoria.ca/EN/meta/news/news-archives/2013-archive/first-nations-burial-ground-at-beacon-hill-park.html
• Official Beacon Hill Park website: http://www.beaconhillpark.ca/
• Beacon Hill Park at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Hill_Park
• City of Victoria Beacon Hill Park site (has a link to a map of the park): http://www.victoria.ca/EN/main/departments/parks-rec-culture/parks/beacon-hill.html

Part of the April A to Z Challenge.