Almost everywhere you go on Vancouver Island, the central BC Coast, and the islands in between the two, you are walking in the footsteps of someone else. Of course the First Nations of the coast spent time on most of the land, whether living there or travelling across it. But also through the 1800 and 1900s, many people came from all across the globe to try to make a living on the remote coastal frontier. Some things haven't changed much, as people still come here from across the globe to experience the raw wilderness that the BC Coast offers.
A case in point is one of the island's BC Oceanfront has for sale, Shewell Island. We had heard there was an old homestead site on it, but looking at aerial and shore photos that Ed took from a plane, we couldn't see it.
Recently Ed had the opportunity to walk Shewell, and because he knew he was looking for a homestead site, and he knew where it likely had been, he found the evidence he was searching for.
The amazing thing, is that this is common. Nature takes back our efforts so quickly out here in the temperate rain forest, that these homesteads quickly become covered and disappear to the casual eye. One of the last signs is often trees or plants that are not indigenous, such as these plants at Ronning's Garden up on northern Vancouver Island.
So many stories lay hidden under the moss and ferns and fallen trees on the coast. It is a testament to people's will power that they were here in the first place, with no electricity and no local transportation, but also it is a testament to the wilderness of the coast, that as hard as these people worked and as much as they cleared and chopped and harvested, nature can, at least on the surface, erase the footprints. Both of these things are what make the coast such a special place - the hardworking people and the awesome wilderness.
It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Pass It On!
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