Outdoor grounds & garden tour Preview

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Please come again

Thank you for visiting. We look forward to seeing you again soon.Stop by the Visitor Centre before leaving for more information on upcoming activities or to purchase a souvenir. While you’re there, please leave us a comment about your experience with this digital tour with one of the Parks Canada team members.Watch for more tours to come as the renewal project wraps up and we develop more activities, programs and events for you to see and do in the future.

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John A. Macdonald

John A. Macdonald immigrated to North America from Scotland as a child.Click and scroll through the images below more details.

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Bellevue House National Historic Site

Bellevue House was constructed in the 1840s for a successful Kingston merchant named Charles Hales. Over the years, the house has had many occupants, including Macdonald.

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The Italianate villa

Bellevue House is one of the oldest and finest examples of Italianate villa architecture in Canada.

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Living at Bellevue

The Macdonalds were an immigrant family presented with both hardships and opportunities.Click and scroll through the images below for more details.

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Working at Bellevue

Macdonald and Isabella had domestic help. These servants lived in the home with the Macdonalds, but they were not considered part of the family. What role would you play if you lived or worked at Bellevue House? Take a moment to imagine what your life would have been like.

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The Victorian gardens

The grounds at Bellevue were a representation of status. As you wander through the grounds, take time to notice differences between the grounds of the Victorian era and the gardens we have today.

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Macdonald after Bellevue

After thirteen months, Macdonald could no longer afford to live at Bellevue House. He and Isabella moved to more affordable housing on Johnson Street in Kingston.Click and scroll through the images below for more details.

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Refreshing the story

At Bellevue House, Parks Canada is committed to telling the full scope of Sir John A. Macdonald’s story and we invite you to join us in examining Canada’s formative history, its legacies and impacts for the people who call this place home.

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The heritage gardens

The gardens are typical Victorian-style gardens for a wealthy family.

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A complex legacy

Macdonald's vision for Canada defined Confederation.This vision was hopeful and inviting for some. Others, such as Indigenous People, people of colour, most women, and the poor were mostly left out.Take a closer look at the images below. Click on each one and reflect on the caption to discover more about Macdonald's complicated legacy and its outcomes. Parks Canada employees around the site are present to engage in conversation about the details of Macdonald's life.

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The red oak

We’ve reached the end of the tour. At this time, we invite you to take a moment to reflect on Macdonald's story in the shade of the gazebo. The red oak near the gazebo is approximately two hundred years old. In fact, it was planted around the same time Macdonald was born. If this tree could talk, what do you think it would say?When historic Bellevue House opens again, we hope you will return and join us on a journey of unpacking Sir John A. Macdonald and the complicated legacy he left behind.

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Contributions to a country

Today, Macdonald is known for his political astuteness, his ability to build consensus, his role in constructing Canada’s Confederation, and for the long lasting and painful legacy that his vision brought for many people. Macdonald's biographers note his contribution to establishing Canada as a nation:

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