Diamond Botanical Gardens and Waterfall

These splendid gardens are part of Soufrière Estate, St. Lucia in the Caribbean. This 2,000-acre land grant was presented by King Louis XIV in 1713 to three Devaux brothers from Normandy in recognition of their services to France. Today, the estate is still owned by their descendants; Joan Du Bouley Devaux maintains the gardens.

Bushes and shrubs bursting with brilliant flowers grow beneath towering trees and line pathways that lead to a natural gorge.

Deep within the botanical gardens, water bubbling from underground sulfur springs streams downhill in rivulets, forming the Diamond Waterfall.

King Louis XVI of France allocated funds to build a bath house for his troops with twelve stone baths, fortifying them against the St. Lucian climate. Also here in the bath house, it is believed that Empress Joséphine Bonaparte had bathed here as a young girl while visiting her father's plantation nearby.