A little of each town’s story

Pine Garden (松園別館)

From: Hualien: the sea and delicious everyday life

The two-story main building with its arched veranda

A military facility from the Japanese colonial era, built in 1942 on a hill overlooking Hualien Port. It housed the military affairs office for the port and was then the highest military command in the Hualien area. A grove of Ryukyu pines still surrounds it. After the war it passed to the Nationalist army, and in the 1950s became a rest and recreation center for the US military advisory group. It is registered as a historic building of Hualien County. It closed in September 2024 after typhoons brought down trees on the grounds, and reopened on January 10, 2025, after repairs.

No. 65, Songyuan St., Hualien City, Hualien County, Taiwan

Sources: zh.wikipedia.org news.pts.org.tw news.pts.org.tw

This moment in the journey

Pine Garden, among the Ryukyu pines

On a low hill stands Pine Garden (松園別館), ringed by Ryukyu pines. Passing along a corridor between vine-covered pillars, I came out in front of a two-story building with an arched veranda.

Under Japanese rule, this was a military facility of the Japanese army. Built in 1942, it housed the military affairs office for the port of Hualien. From the second floor, the view opens onto Hualien Port: beyond the red bridge over the river lie the breakwater, a lighthouse and the sea.

Pines more than a century old and a building with a long history pass on the preciousness of peace to the present day. I walked the path in the shade of the pines, looked at the stone marker by the gate, and gazed down on the town beneath towering summer clouds. The pines, the buildings and an air-raid shelter are carefully preserved, and with a café on site, it is now one of the sights of Hualien.

Watch this scene on YouTube2:52

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