Bellevue House garden, then and now

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Then

The year is 1848. It is summer in Kingston, Upper Canada. John A. Macdonald, Isabella Clark Macdonald and their infant son, John, have just moved into their new rental home, Bellevue House, on Centre Street. The large Italian-style villa is owned by Charles Hales, a very successful local merchant.

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Thirty-three-year-old John A., who is frequently away attending Parliament in Montreal, is nearing the end of his first term as a member of Parliament and must leave his family behind often. He has high hopes that Bellevue House, with its comfortable, spacious interior, its lovely, large gardens, and fresh lake breezes will be just the tonic for his ailing wife, who suffers with a mysterious and seriously debilitating chronic illness. His mother, Helen Shaw Macdonald, and his sisters, Margaret and Louisa, also live in Kingston. John A. is hoping that his son, John, will grow up amongst his extended family.

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When she is well enough, Isabella manages the household staff. At other times, she issues orders from her sickbed. When he is not sleeping in a cot in his own room, baby John is passed about to anyone who will look after him.

Outside, the garden staff are in full swing. It is less expensive to employ gardeners than it is to buy all the food necessary to sustain a household. But there is much work to be done: scything the lawns; weeding and harvesting in the large, walled fruit and vegetable garden; tending to the apple orchard; and looking after the annuals in the showy, ornamental flower garden.

All in all, between the location, the impressive home and the beautiful gardens, Bellevue House is an idyllic, picturesque place.

Mere months after moving in, though, tragedy befalls the Macdonalds. Thirteen-month-old John dies alone, in his cot. The cause of his death is listed only as convulsions. The tragedy of their son’s death devastates the Macdonalds and changes them forever. Isabella, already terribly unwell, takes to her bed permanently, resorting to opium to attempt to alleviate her symptoms. John A., plagued with sorrow and financial worries, turns to his old friend, the bottle.

Within two years of moving into Bellevue House, John A. and Isabella Macdonald, distraught and overwhelmed with money woes, pack up their belongings and move out. The house and the gardens go on.

Now

The year is 2019. It is summer in Kingston, Ont. One hundred and seventy years have passed since the Macdonalds moved out of Bellevue House.

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Although much has changed, much also remains the same. The house stands where it has always stood, since 1839. Apples with evocative names like Blood Gravenstein, Pumpkin Sweet and Worcester Pearmain still hang from the old apple trees in the orchard, which faces onto Centre Street. The lawns are cut by scythe, just as they were in the 1800s. The large walled garden on the southeast corner of the property produces much of what would have been grown in the 1800s, right down to the old heirloom vegetable varieties, the old-fashioned herbs, and Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate flowers blooming along the garden walls. On other parts of the property, shagbark and bitternut hickory and ancient oak trees still stand. There are no pesticides or synthetic chemicals used here. No power tools, no weed trimmers or leaf blowers. Not even a push lawnmower. Things are done as they would have been done in the 1800s.

There’s a remarkable and rather incredible sense of peace in these grounds. The air is fresh and sweet. It feels truly as though time has stood still here. An oasis.

But it hasn’t always been this way. After the Macdonalds’ departure from Bellevue House, the house sat vacant for a time and was then occupied and owned by a number of private individuals until 1964, when the home and grounds were purchased by Parks Canada. With the help of historical experts, the old home and gardens were restored to their former condition. It’s an ongoing project, though, and the house itself is currently closed while undergoing repairs to the original plaster of the ceiling. The visitor centre and gardens remain open and fees are waived while this work takes place.

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Each year, the garden changes a little. On a visit a couple of years ago, the beautiful Long Island Cheese pumpkins were ready for harvest and the borage was in full bloom. This time there were jewel-like eggplants and Green Hubbard squash growing, plus the addition of a large Three Sisters garden – where corn, beans and squash support each other in their own little ecosystem. The settlers were taught this way of gardening by their Indigenous neighbours.

Summer student Matthew Elliott leads me through the garden, showing me the gooseberry and red currant bushes, the rhubarb and strawberry patches, the turnips, onions, kohlrabi, cabbages, kale, celery, salsify, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, peppers, beets, sorrel and chard. There are herbs like catmint, chamomile, spearmint and lemon balm. Flowers are planted intermittently throughout – serving to beautify, to scent, and to attract pollinators to the garden. More than 120 varieties of plants are grown in the garden and all are heirloom varieties that date back to the mid-1800s. Seeds are saved or sourced through heirloom seed companies. All of the produce is either used at Bellevue House or donated to Loving Spoonful.

Bellevue House gardener Ella Wright, who has just finished up her tenure at the property, said the thing that struck her most from her time in the garden was, “How disconnected we have become to where our food actually comes from.”

The corollary may well be that being back in the garden is the very thing that reconnects us to our food.

For more information on Bellevue House, including the apple-tasting table (while apples are in season) or the weekend Tea & Treat program held every Saturday and Sunday during the summer from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (where you might sample teas made from herbs grown in the garden along with old-fashioned baked goods made with whatever is available in the garden), go online to www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/on/bellevue.

Lindy Mechefske is the award-winning author of Out of Old Ontario Kitchens and Sir John’s Table. Contact her at lindymechefske.com.