Robert Pim Butchart, a pioneer in the thriving North American cement industry,
was attracted by rich limestone deposits. In 1904, he developed a quarry and built
a cement plant at Tod Inlet (on Vancouver Island) to satisfy Portland cement
demand from San Francisco to Victoria. Jennie Butchart became the company’s
chemist. Close to the quarry, the Butcharts established the family home complete
with sweet peas and rose bushes.
As Mr. Butchart exhausted limestone deposits, his enterprising wife Jennie, made
plans to create something of beauty in the gigantic exhausted pit. From farmland
nearby, she had tonnes of top soil brought in by horse and cart and used it to line
the floor of the abandoned quarry. Little by little, the quarry blossomed into the
spectacular Sunken Garden that is now known as the Butchart Garden.
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