Charlottetown Boulder Park: Location and Visitor Tips

Charlottetown Boulder Park is in Queen Square, behind the Hon. George Coles Building in the centre of downtown. The City of Charlottetown’s public-art story map places it on the building’s northern side; Province House and St. Paul’s Anglican Church are nearby landmarks.

The park’s entrance is on Church Street. Its brochure gives the map position as 46°14′7.80″N, 63°7′33.13″W, a useful detail if you’re navigating by coordinates. The City story map also says the landscaping was funded by the Bank of Nova Scotia.

The main feature is a collection of boulders representing Canadian provinces. Each one has a plaque identifying its province of origin and the geological name of its rock formation, so you can connect the stones with both their regional origins and their geology.

The park was intended to commemorate the contributions of people from across Canada to the creation of the Confederation Centre of the Arts. Its idea came from Dr.

Eric Harvie, then chairman of the Fathers of Confederation Memorial Citizens Foundation. The park opened in a ceremony on September 1, 1966, the 102nd anniversary of the start of the Charlottetown Conference.

If you’re planning a wider downtown stroll, the park’s central location fits naturally into a walking route through downtown Charlottetown.

The park brochure says admission is free and the grounds are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Because hours and access details can change, check the official City of Charlottetown site before you go.

For parking, the brochure describes one hour of free parking on Church Street and metered parking on Grafton Street. If you plan to drive, check the posted parking rules when you arrive. The park is an outdoor site, and the boulders are the central feature; use care around the rocks and follow any instructions posted at the site.

The park is already in downtown Charlottetown, behind the Hon. George Coles Building, so use that building and the nearby churches to orient yourself. The entrance is on Church Street, with Grafton Street parking also noted in the brochure.

To make the stop part of a longer visit, pair it with the Confederation Centre of the Arts, whose creation the park commemorates. The Centre is also a downtown landmark, and its visitor guide to the Confederation Centre of the Arts covers that companion stop.

Charlottetown Boulder Park works well as one stop in a downtown sightseeing walk: its location puts the Confederation Centre of the Arts, Province House and St. Paul’s Anglican Church in the same central area. You can visit the boulders, read their plaques, then continue toward the other landmarks without treating the park as a separate outing.

For a seasonal event connection, Tourism PEI identifies Boulder Park on Grafton Street as the location of the Mistletoe Market. Market dates and hours vary by edition, so check Tourism PEI’s current event information before making plans.