Have you visited this 130-year-old Kelowna park?

Chalked full of history, the Benvoulin Heritage Park is one of the oldest sites in Kelowna.

The location boasts what once was the first protestant church south of Vernon, an old farm house from the early 1900s, as well as beautiful gardens and nature to peacefully relax in.

The gardens are set for a revamp soon. This year has been declared The Year of the Garden and the Central Okanagan Heritage Society (COHS) is one of many participants across Canada. It's also the 40th anniversary of the society and the 130th anniversary of the Benvoulin Heritage Church.

According to the president of COHS, Don Knox, the park brings people back to their roots as a city.

“It offers a sense of an anchor,” Knox told Kelowna10.

The park itself started in 1892, as a result of a donation of property, and support from the Aberdeen family.

According to the COHS website, the church fell on hard times due to a shifting population. It closed as a church in 1964 and operated as a youth centre until 1976.

In 1982, the Heritage Society initiated an $85,000 restoration project. Local businesses and interested citizens came on board and thousands of volunteer hours were contributed to bring the project to life.

Part of the Heritage Park is the McIver house. It was built in the early 1900s, on KLO Road, on a site just south of its new home at Benvoulin Heritage Park.

Two of the McIver children, Pat, and her brother, Barry, wanted to see their childhood home preserved, and returned to a useful life. In 1994 the farmhouse was donated to the Central Okanagan Heritage Society.

“It’s a really interesting example of an early farm house. It’s been completely restored and is in really nice shape, and we do a lot of work to keep it up,” Knox said.

The gardens of the park were redone in the early 1980s, but had fallen into disrepair due to financial and upkeep reasons.

“The gardens… date back to the founding of the church. We hope to have them finished this year,” Knox said.

The park also hosts a variety of events, ranging from weddings to live music.

According to Knox, the sound inside the church is exquisite due to the dampening effect of the shape of the structure.

“Sitting there on a sunny afternoon, listening to a concert, looking out through the birch trees, is just really, pretty magical.”