Editorially speaking…
We made the cover!
The cover of the new Times Colonist vacation and visitor guide, GO, that is.
And by ‘we,’ I mean that handsome railway trestle.
All these years later, I’m still amazed that we had to fight to save the Kinsol Trestle from demolition. It has become—as was predicted by a handful of ‘historical purists,’ as the editor of the Times Colonist branded us when we were still voices in the wilderness—the crown jewel of the Cowichan Valley.
Any readers who still aren’t familiar with the story can read How We Saved the Kinsol Trestle, right here in the Chronicles.
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Speaking of popular history attractions, Victoria’s Old Cemeteries Society has posted its annual calendar of Sunday tours. Actually, it’s been out for three months now, but, as I’ve confessed before, answering my voluminous email is a challenge...
Victoria’s Ross Bay Cemetery. —Old Cemeteries Society
All of the listed Sunday afternoon tours are of interest, of course, and, depending upon one’s personal taste, there’s sure to be ones that’ll motivate a trip to Victoria and justify the outrageous price of gas.
It’s been a few years since I last gave an OCS tour, several since I attended one, but I’ve shortlisted five I hope to attend, beginning this month. As I say, to each his or her own. You can download the calendar at https://oldcem.bc.ca/tour.
Pay particular note to the Halloween Ghost Tours, the Society’s annual blow-out event. Other than the two down years of Covid, it’s usually a sell-out.
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We have some fabulous cemeteries here in the Cowichan Valley, too. One of the least known is the Hillcrest Chinese Cemetery in Sahtlam, immediately beside the Cowichan Valley Trail at 6771 Payne Road.
Bonus! Across the road from the cemetery is this intriguing lump of concrete at the entrance to a private driveway. It and the cemetery are among the few survivors of the Hillcrest Lumber Co. If you’re wondering what this was, it was the office vault. —Author’s Collection
For years, the cemetery was in a state of total neglect, overgrown with broom and other scrub brush. Thanks to Neil Dirom and a handful of volunteers, however, the cemetery, whose first occupants worked in Carlton Stone’s Hillcrest sawmill, has been totally cleaned up and is now kept in a state of tidiness. Opened in 1940, it contains 147 graves at present.
For a virtual tour of the Chinese cemetery just google Nanaimo Historical Society videos and scroll because they’ve posted no fewer than 36!
Neil even posts a newsletter; you can email him (I’m taking the liberty of giving his URL) at njnadirom@gmail.com.
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On another note, Victoria High School has reopened after four years of renovations and seismic upgrading that saved the original building and added a new library and “learning commons” at a cost of $100 million.
Vic High, which is the oldest public high school in western Canada, started in 1876 as a log cabin with 36 students. The ‘new’ high school has a “long rich heritage that is unique on the West Coast and in Canada,” said Nicole Duncan, chair of the Greater Victoria School Board.
Long live Vic High!