My Dad and I recently visited Gabriola Island, British Columbia, where my great-grandparents had a homestead 100 years ago.
Our family hasn’t moved very far since then. We all grew up in Nanaimo, just a hop, skip and a 10 minute ferry ride from Gabriola Island.
While some of the waterfront areas on Gabriola have grown a lot since my Dad was a child, he says the middle part of the island looks like nothing has changed. It’s still quiet farmland.
Our mission was to find the piece of land where the homestead was, and we think we did, although there is nothing left of the old buildings now.
While there, we toured around the island a bit and visited Degnen Bay, a lovely anchorage, where I’m sure everyone in my family sought refuge at some point, whether on fishing boat, pleasure boat or kayak.
Please click any of the images to view larger versions.
Then we went over to the other side of the island to visit Malaspina Galleries, a very cool rock formation where you can sit out of the sun and enjoy the view.
This is the view looking out towards Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.
Here’s my Dad playing in the galleries 🙂
I like this photo because we have a photo of my grandmother as a young lady in this very location.
The sandstone is very soft and makes for great texture images!
It was a lot of fun exploring the island and looking for evidence of my ancestors. There were 12 of them, my great-grandparents and their 10 children, but only a few of them are in any of the records in the archives. I’ll have to do some more research and see what else I can find.
In case any of my Gabriola Island friends are curious, the family name is McNeil and the homestead was on North Road. The access to the land today is on McCollum Road. I’d love to hear from you if there’s anyone in your family who remembers the McNeils.
It’s such a peaceful place. I could really see living there one day!
Hi Anne
Beautiful photos as usual!
I live on Gabriola (and have for 22 years.) Lovely place that I just stay here for the summers.
I wonder if you checked the Gabe museum archives? They have a fair amount on early settlers. Well worth a look. I’ll try to check that for you.
Best wishes for your travels and photos.
Paul
Hi Paul, Yes, I did. There is a photo of my Grandmother on display there. She is with her school class. I even talked to the Archivest who help my Dad and I find some information. It’s a gorgeous place, I can sure understanding spending some summers there. Thanks for your comments.
Great photos and views.
I would like to trace my family roots in Germany (starting arounf Bremen).
Thank you very much Ruth!
Great shots of all the boats in the harbor.
It’s always fun taking a step back into the family history…brings perspective to what brought about the changes that led to our/your/my birth 🙂
It was a very interesting trip Tim and makes me want to find out more. It was such a different time. Thank you very much for your visit and comments.
What a wonderful experience, Anne. Awesome to do something like this.
Love these great photos, well done as always. 🙂
It was fun! Thanks for the kind compliment Jimi 🙂
Beautiful pictures! I don’t think I’ve been to Gabriola Island, but I have toured around the area, up the Vancouver Island east coast and across by ferry to the mainland back down to Vancouver. It’s one of my favorite parts of Canada. 🙂
Me too! 🙂 All the little islands around here are gorgeous. You should come back some time! Thanks for your visit and comments Laurie.
Beautiful! The Malaspina Galleries image facing toward Nanaimo is absolutely gorgeous and it’s very cool to see how the soft stone in the close-up shot is being affected by it’s environment.
Thank you very much Mary, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Maybe you’ll make it up to this part of the world someday!
An amazing personal collection of work that leaves me wanting to see more! (precisely what a body of work should do)
Thank you very much Bettie, I appreciate that!
Interesting location and story Anne! I’ll take “Beaches” like that any day over the sandy kind people lie on all day!
Thanks Michael. It really is an interesting place and it has these built in chairs that make it more comfortable for reading a book on the “beach” than a sandy beach!
I enjoyed the post, Anne, and your great photos of our island (especially the one of your father in the Galleries). I don’t recall the McNeils, but heck…I’ve only been on Gabriola for 28 years so I’m a relative newcomer! 🙂
They were long gone by the time you got there Laurie! They lived there from around 1910 to sometime in the mid 40’s. Glad you enjoyed the post!
Very pretty. And what an interesting thing to do
It was interesting! Thanks for your comments Delina.
Beautiful photos Anne! Great post!
Thanks Rich, glad you enjoyed it.
The view of Vancouver Island looks beautiful!
Thank you very much Matt!