James Bay
James Bay was once an industrial zone, which housed, amongst many other funkily fumed facilities - an unofficial garbage dump at the site of what is now the Cook Street village. The stink of the area was of such putrid and nasally repulsive proportions that even highflying aristocrats of the Empress quarters were starting to notice it through their perfume. Something had to be done, and it was - by 1906 concrete had been laid over the Cook Street landfill, an area that was to become the western quarter of Fairfield, and already there had been much residential development in south western James Bay. James Bay is now considered one of the quietest and historically quaint in Victoria.
Points of Interest:
The Helmcken House - 10 Eliot Square- the oldest house in Victoria, built in 1852 as an original Log house and expanded as the years went by.
The Birthplace of Emily Carr at The Carr Home at 207 Government St.as well as the death place of the selfsame artist at The James Bay Inn -270 Government St.
Also of interest is the South Park School-the oldest operational school in Canada, which is located at 508 Douglas St.
Beacon Hill Park
James Bay Inn History ↑
Beacon Hill Park ↑
Emily Carr ↑
Fairfield
“The neighbourhood of Fairfield is a delightfully peaceful and prosperous alcove of the beautiful city of Victoria. See her serene and stately streets stretch out for miles along the sparkling coast, and know that from wherever you are this is a home - and what a home!"
-A verdant wilderness, a veritable cornucopia of ardent pleasure, calling out to you through the waves.
Points Of Interest
Fairfield House at 601 Trutch St. -built by Joseph Trutch in 1862.
The Ross Bay Cemetery (http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/ - take the virtual tour!) is Victoria's premier house of the dead, were many of the city's founding fathers and mothers and other illustrious clients took a permanent vacation. It is named after Charles Ross, one of the Hudson Bay Chief Factor in charge of Fort Victoria. Opened in 1873 and gradually expanded to 27 acres to meet the needs of every given harvesting season - the wealth of statuary and the sheer expanse should tempt anyone for a visit. If that alone is not enough, there are also more species of pine trees in the cemetery than anywhere else in Victoria. It is recommended that you pay your respects on the night of a full moon with a single robe and a wand of incense.
The tiniest park of all in Victoria is the Gonzales Hill Regional Park because the purpose of the park is to protect the Gonzales Observatory, which is now a Heritage building. Built in 1914 as an Astrophysical lookout point, it was adapted in the years to come to meet the expanding development of Victoria - The street lamps that this suburban growth brought with it acted as an astro-retardant, and the Observatory was turned into a meteorological station. Today, it is being used as an “atmospheric biogeochemistry research” facility funded by the University of Victoria. It is worth taking the hike up those stairs on Barkley Terrace just for the commanding hillcrest view, which panoramas Victoria.
Centre for Earth and Ocean Research ↑
Oak Bay
The municipality of Oak Bay gets its name from the Gary Oak trees that line the streets of this affably English (some say more English than England) neighbourhood. Looked on by many as the home of “snobs”, it is in actuality decidedly not that, but instead an area substantial enough in size and diversity of peoples to be accessible to one and all.
Points of Interest
The majority of the items of interest to the associative backpacker reside along the “Scenic Marine Drive”, a polymorphous coastal road that begins at the Inner Harbour and tours through the areas of James Bay and Fairfield before it gains the name “Beach Drive” which it retains as it winds up to the vertices of the elongated Oak Bay coast to Cadboro Bay and the University of Victoria.
A trip down Crescent Road will bring you to the Chinese Cemetery on Penzance Rd , an interim house of the dead - this is where the Chinese citizens of Victoria are were brought to rest temporarily (7 yrs.) before their bodies were returned to their native China. The cemetery was opened in 1903 on this particular spot by devotees of Feng Shui - a Chinese discipline involving the pursuit of harmony - and was used for 50 yrs. as one of the few spots in North America where the Chinese were allowed to bury their dead. In fact, even with the “allowance” the first residents of the cemetery were named “chinaman #1,” “chinaman #2”and so on. Some of the relics still stand after 50 yrs of disuse.
Gonzales point, now the site of the Victoria Golf course is the southernmost point on Vancouver Island; and was where a Spanish ship under the heading of Captain Gonzales landed in 1790. The Golf Club was established in 1893, and is the oldest club in Canada to remain on its original site.
At 1701 Beach drive is the original home of Francis Rattenbury, the crowned king of Victoria's architecture, responsible for such items as the Empress hotel and the BC parliament building. The home is now the Glenlyon-Norfolk school.
"Oak Bay House" at 2564 Heron St. - ( runs parallel to Beach Drive) . John Tod, an employee of the Hudson Bay Company, and acted as a chief trader for a fort in Kamloops, bought 406 acres of land in what is now Oak Bay and built what is now western Canada's oldest house. Construction is dated at 1850-51. Is Oak Bay House haunted? There are rumours of strange happenings and apparently an unidentified female skeleton was found in the basement.
For an abridged list of key heritage sites in the Oak Bay area check this out:
Oak Bay Tourism Historic Attractions ↑
Cadboro Bay
Cadboro Bay comes complete with a beach and a Cadborosaurus - Cadboro Bay's version of the Loch Ness monster, a serpentine sea beast. The hunt is on for an actual photograph of "Caddy", so keep your eyes peeled (you're gonna be looking for a long, long time) Cadboro Bay was the site of a Salish village: called Sungayka. There are still remains of its occupation visible around the site - including burial cairns on the hills above
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