…Ross Bay Villa

Ross Bay Villa. Sound familiar? Ross Bay? Ross Bay Cemetery? All named for the same folks. No, not the people who build Ross Bay Villa. Ross Bay was named for the person who owned the land at the time (the 1870s), “Isabella Mainville Ross, the first registered independent woman landowner in British Columbia [who] was also Indigenous, an Anishinaabe and French Métis woman.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Bay_Cemetery)

According to the official Ross Bay Villa website:

Ross Bay Villa was the home of Francis James Roscoe and his wife Anna Letitia from 1865 to 1879. While living there, they had five children: Mary, Katherine, Francis, Millicent and Thomas. (http://rossbayvilla.org/)

Yes, Ross Bay Villa is a house. And not a very big one. I am always astonished looking at some of these really old (for here) houses where people raised larges broods and had servants. I don’t know where they put them all!

A lot of research has been done on the history of Ross Bay Villa, and I encourage you to read some of it (or all of it) at the Ross Bay Villa website (http://rossbayvilla.org/history/the-roscoe-family-1865-1879/

Ross Bay Villa has been undergoing restoration for a long time – since 2000. The carpenter who has been patiently working on our house for the past couple of years volunteers his weekends to Ross Bay Villa, and has for many many years. The house was a private residence until 1999 (I think) when it was basically abandoned and almost torn down. But it was saved, and is now being restored (you can see before and after pictures at http://rossbayvilla.org/before-after-photographs/) . There are financial challenges though, since the society who owns is having to sell it off, and now the Ross Bay Villa society is trying to raise money to purchase it to keep it as a museum.

Interesting note: The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria has its offices in Ross Bay Villa – see “Q” and “R”.

Websites of Interest

• The Ross Bay Villa official website: http://rossbayvilla.org/
• Ross Bay Villa at the Land Conservancy: http://blog.conservancy.bc.ca/properties/vancouver-island-region/ross-bay-villa/

Part of the April A to Z Challenge.

…the Unbelievable Royal BC Museum

Ok, ok, ok. I promised to post a piece on the Royal BC Museum, but I’m running out of letters. So, sue me.

Anyway, across the street from the Legislative Buildings on one side, and the Empress Hotel on another , as well as kitty-corner from the Inner Harbour (see “L”, “E” and “I”) the Royal BC Museum was founded in 1886. The current building was built in 1968 (you can definitely tell it’s a 60’s build). The museum has 3 permanent galleries: The Natural History Gallery, the First Peoples Gallery, and the Modern History Gallery. And they have all kinds of different shows coming through regularly. Right now, if you were here, you could check out “Our Living Languages: First People’s Voices in British Columbia” (http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/our-living-languages/) – I need to get to this before it leaves!! And coming up in May will be “Gold Rush: El Dorado in BC” (http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/goldrush/).

In addition to the indoor galleries, you can also visit Thunderbird Park (see “T”) and Helmcken House and St. Ann’s School (see “H”), preserved outside, although it is a little jarring to see the 1800’s structures against the 1960’s metal and concrete.

I keep thinking I should become a member of the Gallery – I could save on entry fees and IMAX entry – it’s so close to our house, and have always loved museums.  Then maybe I would go more. Maybe this year…

Anyway, here is my walk around the museum!

The carillon

A few of these Native Plant Gardens ring the grounds

Websites of Interest

• Royal BC Museum website: http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/
• Royal BC Museum at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_British_Columbia_Museum

Part of the April A to Z Challenge.

…Thunderbird Park

I’ve already shown some of Thunderbird Park in my post on Helmcken House (see “H”).

According to the Royal BC Museum’s website:

Thunderbird Park was established in 1941 when a display of totem poles from the provincial museum’s collection was set up at the corner of Belleville and Douglas streets in Victoria. In 1952 Anthropology Curator Wilson Duff initiated a pole restoration program and hired Kwakwaka’wakw master carver, Mungo Martin, as chief carver for Thunderbird Park. (http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/tbird-park/html/intro/intro.htm)

Helmcken Park, and St. Ann’s School reside in the Park, as do a Northwest Coast style big house (http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/tbird-park/html/present/ex07/ex07.htm) and several totem poles (Gitxsan, Haida, and Kwakwaka’wakw). The big house (or Kwakwaka’wakw) was built by Chief Mungo Martin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungo_Martin) in 1953. You can see a plan of the present park here: http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/tbird-park/html/present/main.htm.

Websites of Interest

• Thunderbird Park at Virtual Tourist: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/Canada/Province_of_British_Columbia/Victoria-903124/Things_To_Do-Victoria-Thunderbird_Park-BR-1.html
• Thunderbird Park at Explore Vancouver Island: http://www.explorevancouverisland.com/Thunderbird_Park_Victoria__Vancouver_Island_BC.htm
• Thunderbird Park at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbird_Park_%28Victoria,_British_Columbia%29
• Thunderbird Park at the Royal BC Museum: http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/tbird-park/html/intro/intro.htm

Part of the April A to Z Challenge.

…Bastion Square

I’ve already talked a bit about Bastian Square in my post on the Maritime Museum (see “M”), but here is a little piece on the square itself.

Bastion Square has been a hub in Victoria since 1864 when first occupied by the Hudson Bay Company. According to the Bastion Square website:

“The energy pulsing through the developing population was filled with a lust for adventure, carousing and lawlessness giving rise to the historic buildings of Bastion Square including the earliest luxury hotels (Burnes House (1886), and Beaver Building (1882), the first Supreme Court building (1889, now the Maritime Museum), The Board of Trade Building (1892), and the Chancery Chambers (1905).” (http://bastionsquare.ca/)

Today, Bastion Square runs for two blocks between Government Street and Wharf Street. It is only open to people on foot, although it once was open to traffic (it became a pedestrian mall in the 1960s), and is a hub of open-air market activities during the “Season” (you know the “Season” of which I speak…it’s right around the corner…). It is also home to restaurants and pubs that locals (yes, even Kevin and I eat at some of these places) hang out in all year round.

Of course, Bastion Square is haunted – some say it’s the most haunted place in Victoria, and according to experts in things paranormal, Victoria is an extremely haunted place. I noted under “M” that Bastion Square’s haunted reputation is supposedly because of the old Supreme Court Building (which became the Maritime Museum, and now stands empty), the site of the original gallows, where many men (probably all or mostly men anyway) met their deaths, and are apparently buried.

(Sorry for the repeated pics, but this is basically Bastion Square!)

Websites of Interest

• Bastion Square Public Market: http://bastionsquare.ca/
• Ghosts of Bastion Square: http://www.vanisleparanormal.ca/bastion-square-and-helmcken-alley/
• Victoria’s Haunted Past: http://www.islandtimesmagazine.ca/articles/past-articles/special-interest/victorias-haunted-past.html
• Bastion Square at Virtual Tourist: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/Canada/Province_of_British_Columbia/Victoria-903124/Things_To_Do-Victoria-Bastion_Square-BR-1.html

Part of the April A to Z Challenge.

…Ross Bay Cemetery

After the old burying ground (see “Q”) became too crowded, Victoria was looking for a new place to bury people. Interesting story – the street I live on almost became the “new” cemetery. Before it was a street, it was a park (and before that a working orchard, apparently). When the City made plans to turn the park into a cemetery, people were not amused and protested to save their park. They did – for a few years when the park became residential streets. I don’t know if they tried protesting again then or not.

Anyway, Ross Bay Cemetery, named thusly because it overlooks Ross Bay, opened in 1873 when the old burying ground was closed due to over-crowding. Note that only a few people were moved from the old burying ground to Ross Bay when it opened – most of the folks buried in the old burying ground are still there.

There are lots of famous people (famous here anyway) buried there. You can see some lists at the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria (http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/prominent.htm) and at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Bay_Cemetery), like Emily Carr (see “C”), and some of BC’s premiers. The original owners of our house are also buried there!

An interesting story (and apparently one of the hazards of building a cemetery close to the ocean)

For many years before the sea wall was built, there were stories of coffins floating out to sea and children playing with the bones of people whose graves had been washed away by the storms. In 1909 violent storms washed away much of the shoreline of Ross Bay as well as large portions of the bank along sections N and L (mostly Chinese and Japanese, as well as First Nations peoples, were buried in these sections) of Ross Bay Cemetery. (http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_rb_sea.htm)

So a sea wall was built to keep this from happening!

Ross Bay Cemetery is officially considered “full”, so no one gets buried there anymore. It’s a peaceful place, that has a fantastic view of the ocean, and definitely worth visiting should you ever be here (and should you happen to like walking in cemeteries). Just don’t try it after a storm – it’s a VERY wet place to walk in after it rains.

Before I start with the tour, I wanted to visit the gravesite of the people who built the house we are living in now.  I wasn’t sure I’d find it, but here it is.

In no particular order, here are some of the things I saw on my walk through Ross Bay Cemetery the other day

A quick aside – here is part of the military area – overlooking the ocean

Remember Helmcken House?

And finally, remember Emily Carr??

Websites of Interest

• Ross Bay Cemetery at Old Cemeteries Society if Victoria: http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_rb.htm
• Ross Bay Cemetery at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Bay_Cemetery
• Ross Bay Cemetery at the Vancouver Island Paranormal Society: http://www.vanisleparanormal.ca/ross-bay-cemetery/

Part of the April A to Z Challenge.