The Public Gardens is one of the finest examples of a Victorian garden anywhere in the world. Nestled in the heart of the city, this important public space has a fascinating history. When you enter the Public Gardens, it feels for a moment as if you have stepped back in time. Everything seems to slow down when you push open one of the iron gates and set foot on the winding gravel paths that meander throughout plantings of astonishing variety. It is seemingly timeless but, of course, it has changed a great deal over almost one hundred years.

Nestled in the heart of the city, the Public Gardens' origins date from the 1830s. Inside its gates are a staggering variety of beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees and the most memorable historic structures. The aesthetic of the Public Gardens was the vision of Richard Power, the Gardens' original superintendent.

Over time, the Gardens took its current form, through the addition of familiar features such as the bandstand, cast iron gates, fountain, and bridges. The structures and monuments in the garden themselves are filled with significance. Citizens and visitors alike have found a quiet oasis of calm in the middle of the downtown core. It is a place where memories have been made, as generation after generation have taken in the seven hectares of beauty. When you enter the Public Gardens, it feels as if you are stepping out of a hectic city and back in time. But the Public Gardens has survived through the careful stewardship of a cross section of the community.

This lavishly illustrated book is the first comprehensive history of this remarkable place.

PETER TWOHIG is an historian of the Atlantic region. He is the author of two previous books on health care work, and five interdisciplinary essay collections on health, illness and disease. He began his career in Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine, before taking up a Canada Research Chair in history at Saint Mary's University, which he held from 2003 to 2013. He teaches in the Department of History at Saint Mary's and several interdisciplinary programs.

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