Along long time ago as a child I would see spirits , no matter where I went or lived. I thought it was quite normal. Little did I know that it wasn’t.
In my I guess you would say backyard (which actually was a graveyard) I would go down and hang out with this young man. I cant remember his name it was to long ago now. But he was in a old-fashioned button up tails style jacket and black pants with buttons around the knees. We would sit in the graveyard and talk about life and all the people that where buried there. He would talk about the young girl in this one area of the graveyard. I’m assuming it was his sister or a relative, I’m not quite sure.
Sometimes we would sit in the old area of the graveyard where all the old stones where and where the caretakers would toss the old flowers. I loved it there, all the quite and whispering of the wind in the leaves and grass. We would just sit there for hours and just watch the people come and go through the graveyard.
At the time I didn’t know he was a ghost, he was my friend and the only person I could really talk to about everything. My hopes, my fears and how I wanted my life to go. I miss him.
If you look at the image below where the green 7 is, the mid to top portion of the 7 is where my house was. This was my happy place and where I belonged. I spent a lot of time in there day and night. We even built a tree fort that overlooked the graveyard. I sure do miss my old house.
HERITAGE VALUE
The heritage value of the Royal Oak Burial Park is found in the history that it has within Greater Victoria as a public institution. As the largest municipal cemetery in B.C., the Royal Oak Burial Park is one of the most historic and picturesque burial parks in Western Canada, and the only burial park on Vancouver Island with a crematorium. Jointly founded in 1923 by the City of Victoria and the District of Saanich, the Burial Park is a not for profit organization dedicated to the provision of affordable cemetery, cremation and mausoleum services for Victoria and neighbouring communities. This is the oldest operating crematorium in Greater Victoria.
The Royal Oak Burial Park is valued for its picturesque landscape, with rolling hills, varied topography and many mature landscape specimens. The design enhances the natural features of the site. The location of the Crematorium Chapel and Retort provides a dramatic visual focus upon entry to the site. Designed in the Art Deco style, it is a striking design and the purest example of this style in Saanich. Built in 1937, its reinforced concrete construction and smooth stucco wall surfaces represent the functional institutional architecture of the era.
The Crematorium Chapel and Retort is also valued as a surviving example of the work of architect C. Elwood Watkins (1875-1942), who was one of the most successful architects of the region. He began his practice as an apprentice to, and later partner of, Thomas Hooper, and established his own practice prior to the First World War. Watkins designed many local residences and commercial buildings, and for many years was the official architect for the Victoria School Board.
Source: Heritage Planning Files, District of Saanich
