Ross Bay Cemetery

Victoria, British Columbia

Type: Park/Landscape
Address: 1495 Fairfield Road, Victoria, BC, Canada
Get directions
Hours: Dawn to dusk
Phone: 250-598-8870

Ross Bay Cemetery has the oldest surviving formal landscape design in BC and is a superb example of a Victorian-era burial ground. Its profusion of unusual trees and plantings, winding carriageways, graves with intriguing marble, sandstone and granite monuments, all bear witness to the people buried here. It is an outdoor sculpture garden, a walking park and a page from history rolled into one. Stroll on your own or join one the the guided history tours offered regularly by the Old Cemeteries Society.

Amenities

Guided Tour
Parkland
Washrooms
Wheelchair Access

Fun Facts

Many famous Canadians and Americans are buried here, including Sir James Douglas (BC’s first governor), many subsequent premiers, coal baron Robert Dunsmuir (who built Craigdarroch Castle), Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, Emily Carr (world-famous artist), Billy Barker (discoverer of gold at Barkerville) and Nellie Cashman (the “Miners’ Angel” who was featured on a US postage stamp).

Look for the grave of John Dean, the disgruntled politician whose tombstone was erected many years before he died. Find the unique fire hat marker, the giant South Seas shell on the grave of a seafaring artist, the rocketship that is a pun on the Rockett family name, the tombstone with the poem written by a black pioneer, the Japanese memorial and the Cross of Sacrifice.