Some years ago I was on a volunteer group that was assigned the task of trying to improve Butterfield Park by removing invasive plant species and planting and tending the kind of horticulture varieties that Gertrude Butterfield and her daughter Hilda might have tended during the early part of the twentieth century.
I had sketched out a song at that time and after learning that the contest to write a song about local history had been announced, I decided to get the song out, dust it off a bit and make a recording.
It centres around Jack Butterfield who piloted one of the first ferries across the bay, and his wife Gertrude. They had married in Port Simpson in 1906 and moved here for his new job and to homestead in 1913. The property is 13 acres and sits at the intersection of Mount Newton and Thomson Roads. In the song I see her waving to him from there as he pilots his ferry home to Brentwood Bay. It’s impossible now, but in 1913 the second growth would have been very small indeed, and I think the view would have been largely unobstructed.
Also in those days, there would have been community dances possibly every weekend in the area and this is one of the reasons I chose the waltz tempo to carry the narrative of their lives here. Hilda left the farm to the District in 1988. I encourage everyone to visit and appreciate one of the areas little treasures (DC).
Today, Butterfield Park involves a 1 km circle hike around the old Butterfield homestead through some interesting woods and vegetation, climaxed by a giant “mother” tree at the south end.
You can read about Butterfield Park at https://www.centralsaanich.ca/sites/default/files/2023-05/butterfield_inventory_and_assessment.pdf . There’s a guided tour through the Park from the Shaw TV series “Walking with Bruce” at https://www.walkingvancouverisland.ca/butterfield-park .