Lecture: North Island Heritage Sites

Gold mining equipment at Lucky Jim Mine on Quadra Island. Photo by J. Taylor.

Event type: In-person
Location: Rotary Gallery of the Courtenay and District Museum
Speaker: Historian Jeanette Taylor
Tickets: $5 for Historical Society members; $6 for general public. Advance tickets recommended. Tickets can be purchased over the phone by calling 250-334-0686 ext 2.

Plan your next “staycation” with historian Jeanette Taylor as she presents an illustrated talk about north Vancouver Island’s heritage sites. She brings a wealth of experience to her subject, from writing local history to guided boat tours and her former role as a curator with the Museum at Campbell River.

Taylor will highlight accessible gems and provide a downloadable site list. Many can be reached by car and trail, while others, like Mitlenatch Island or Nootka Sound, require boat tours.

A road trip to Port Hardy should include Suquash Mine, says Taylor, to see century-old coal mining equipment and surface digging on a sandstone beach, which dates back to the 1850s.

Mt. Bute, on the Homalko River. Photo by J. Taylor

Taylor likes to bring these areas to life with stories of remarkable individuals. One such person is August Schnarr, who raised three girls on his own in the isolated mountain vastness of Bute Inlet. The girls became famous for raising cougars as pets.

“The north island is not an easy place to live,” says Taylor, “between the mountains, wind, extreme tides and weather. Settlers who wanted to farm chose the Comox Valley or points south. The north demanded adventurers, prepared to face extremes.”

One of the locales Taylor will introduce was formerly owned by German royalty who hosted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles as guests. She’ll also talk about the roots of failed idealistic communities like Cape Scott and Sointula. Her slides will give you a taste for the rugged geography of Desolation Sound Marine Park and other mainland inlets.

Photo by Gerry Cote

Jeanette Taylor is the author of five nonfiction books about our region. She’s currently working on a biography of Courtenay settler Reginald Pidcock, historical fiction, and a history of the Broughton/mainland inlets.