Public Gardens

Halifax’s Public Gardens had its origins in 1836 when the Nova Scotia Horticultural Society set out to create a Victorian garden that would be "accessible to all classes" as a place where they could get away from city life and find a source of "health and cheerfulness". It may have taken them some time, but they definitely achieved success. The main gates of this wonderful place is located at the corner of Spring Garden Road and South Park Street, to the south of Citadel Hill. Among other points of entry, you can find gates to the Public Gardens at the southwest corner of Citadel Hill.

From a 5 ½ acre grant received by the Society in 1837, the gardens eventually expanded over the next three and a half decades to its present 16 acres size. In 1872, Richard Power became Superintendent and remained in this position for 45 years. Power’s "knowledge, vision and exceptional practical ability played an important role in the shaping of the Gardens" (The Halifax Public Gardens, The Friends of the Public Gardens, 1989). The City of Halifax purchased the Public Gardens in 1874.

Bandstand >

Erected in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. This was the same year that the Ceres, Diana and Flora statues were installed.

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< Griffin’s Pond

The largest body of water in the Gardens. Oddly enough, it was named for a young Irishman who was hanged for murder on the east side of the pond in the 1830s.

Erected in 1897 by the garden commissioners to honour Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Unveiled on June 21st at a ceremony attended by a large group of Halifax citizens. Classical in style. The stem rises from a heavy formal base in the form of a Corinthian column, surrounded by four water babies riding on sea serpents. The large basin holds the nymph Egeria who, according to mythology, was turned into a fountain when she tried to hide in the forest after her husband’s death.

The Soldier’s Memorial Fountain was erected in 1903 in commemoration of the service of our citizen soldiers in the South African War (1899-1902). The figure was modeled from a photograph of a local Canadian Mounted Rifleman. The city's main Boer War monument is located in the north yard of Province House. The fountain is located in the northeast section of the Public Gardens.

3 statues of Ceres, Diana and Flora, and 6 vases around the bandstand, were left to the Gardens by Chief Justice Sir William Young. They were made by Austin & Seeley’s Stone Works of London in 1874 for the garden of Sir William’s home on Young Street. When he died in the spring of 1887, he bequeathed them to the city "to be placed in the Public Gardens".

Ceres, the Roman grain-goddess, was identified with the ancient Greek goddess Demeter who represented fertile and cultivated soil and its harvest. This most typical portrayal shows Ceres dressed in a long full robe, wearing a crown of leaves and holding a cornucopia of harvest fruits. >	Click for larger image
Click for larger image	< Diana, the Roman goddess of the chase and forests, appears characteristically as a young virgin, slim and supple with narrow hips and regular features.
Flora is associated with the gracious and charming Greek goddess Chloris, wife of the west wind, Zephyrus. As goddess of budding springtime, she reigns over the fruit trees, vines, grains, and all flowering plants. >	Click for larger image