Township Walking Tours Seven Walking Tours in Historic and Scenic Esquimalt www.esquimalt.ca/explore Gorge Waterway Archives contact info, location To Saanich Legend for map on page 3 To Colwood Gorge Waterway Gorge Park Wed address CRAIGFLOWER Explore Esquimalt app E&N Rail Trail 6 Page 12 - 13 Other resources Gorge Vale Golf Club TILLICUM ADMIRALS To Victoria E&N Railway LAMPSON Munro Head COLVILLE TRANSFER Esquimalt Graving Dock Pilgrim Cove E&N Railway and rail trail Esquimalt Harbour Highrock Park VIEWFIELD Seven Walking Tours of Scenic and Historic Esquimalt Lang Cove LAMPSON Constance Cove HEAD These seven tours tell the story of Esquimalt, its history and natural ROCKHEIGHTS About the Author OLD ESQUIMALT To Victoria features. Each tour takes about an hour to complete. Be prepared for 5 Page 10 - 11 some short steep climbs in the Highrock Park area - in particular tours The Township Walking Tours are conceived and Memorial 4Park ESQUIMALT HEAD WEST BAY written by Sherri Robinson, a writer, story teller, CONSTANCE Page 8 - 9 Four and Five. Many of the tours are located close to scenic waterways Town Centre CFB Esquimalt & ESQUIMALT with picnic tables and benches. Bring a lunch and plan on taking historian and archivist. A fifth generation Esquimalt Dockyard Bullen resident, she lives with husband Darwin in an 1911 several of the tours! LYALL Park 3 JUNO West Song WayWest Bay heritage home on historic Old Esquimalt Road. Page 6 - 7 MACAULAY Page1 2 - 3 You will see ancient shorelines, intriguing trails, Garry oak forests, LYALL FRASER HEAD incredible glimpses into our maritime and military past, heritage Sherri is the author of “Esquimalt Centennial 1912 ADMIRALS homes designed by renowned architects, and coastal and upland parks - 2012.” This 140-page high quality book WALKING TOUR 1: WEST BAY LAMPSON KINVER that are the envy of the region. features historic photos that remind us how WALKING TOUR 2: FLEMING BEACH - SAXE POINT Esquimalt changed from a wooded hamlet to Esquimalt is a compact community, so no matter where you are, you ALKING OUR LD SQUIMALT ILLAGE REA 2 the thriving community it is today. W T 3: O E V A Page 4 - 5 are always close to the transit line, local restaurants and pubs, and WALKING TOUR 4: MEMORIAL AND HIGHROCK PARK Saxe Point Park MUNRO other public amenities. If you would like to explore Esquimalt’s history ALKING OUR AMPSON TREET in more detail, plan to visit Esquimalt Municipal W T 5: L S Inspiration Portions of the tour can be enjoyed on your bicycle, particularly Cove Archives, or the CFB Esquimalt Naval and WALKING TOUR 6: GORGE PARK AREA sections which showcase the many heritage homes in the Township. Military Museum. WALKING TOUR 7: FLEMING BEACH/BUXTON GREEN/ The E&N Rail Trail cuts across the community east-west and is a ACAULAY OINT 7 M P Page 14 - 15 popular cycling route esquimalt.ca/archives Macaulay Point Park Fort Macaulay 1 5. Captain Jacobson Park here until their new home at 622 Head St. was completed in 1910. Walking Tour One was officially named and Wolfenden began work in the Bank of British North America before West Bay Area dedicated in 1998. The moving on to the BC Land and Investment Agency where he worked site, originally the estuary for 45 years. 1. 820 Dunsmuir Rd., “Tyn-y-coed,” was designed by architect John G. for a small stream, was Tiarks in the Queen Anne style for Hans Olgilvie Price in 1892. Price, a covered over during the clerk in the Naval Dockyard, designed the Macaulay Point Golf Links 1950s. in the 1890s with the course ready for play by 1893. When it closed in 6. Entrance to West Bay 1941, it was the oldest golf course in BC. and Hidden Harbour Marina. Check at either one for availability of ferries, kayak rentals or 851 Wollaston Street water taxis. 507 Head Street 7. Selected in December Legislature Buildings and the Empress Hotel. The house, an eclectic 1887 as permanent barracks, Work Point is one of our oldest combination of Chalet, Tudor Revival and Queen Anne style was built landmarks. Canada took complete control of the barracks after in 1908 for Arthur and Amy Coles. From 1916-1919, Arthur Coles was Reeve (Mayor) of Esquimalt. The house, restored by Bill and Debrah British Imperial Troops left in 1906. The barracks are now part of CFB West Song Way Esquimalt. Patterson, was designated heritage in 1994. 12. 812 Dunsmuir Rd., built on land originally owned by Henry 8. Paradise Street, in the early 1900s part of Mrs. Bridget Potts’ dairy WORDSLEY farm, was probably named by Captain Jacobson as a reminder that Mansell, a Victoria boot maker, was the family home for a member of the pioneer Wolfenden family. Arthur and Ethel Wolfenden resided 820 Dunsmuir Road the sailing vessel Casco, owned by the Victoria Sealing Company, was chartered by author Robert Louis Stevenson in 1888. While cruising in 2. At the end of Garrett Place, take the short pathway to the sweeping the South Pacific (paradise) he wrote In The South Seas, published in Start / Finish vistas and viewpoint over the Garry oak meadow (the steep stairway 1889. 10 leads down to West Song Way). These 2.4 acres (.9 hectares) of natural 12 9. 901 Wollaston St., “Seascape,” was designed by architect John habitat were a gift to Esquimalt from Mandalay Development Limited, 11 SEA ESQUIMALT C.M. Keith for eccentric philanthropist John Dean in 1923. Dean ESQUIMALT 1 who built Swallow’s Landing. The Nature Conservancy of Canada HEAD resided here until his death in 1943. John Dean Park on Mt. Newton manages these meadowlands. 9 was developed from 22 acres Dean donated to the Municipality of WOLLASTON GARRETT PL WEST BAYTCE 2 3. West Song Way was built as a joint project by the Provincial Capital North Saanich. He served as Councillor (1900) and Mayor (1903) of Swallow’s Commission, the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt. Rossland, BC. Esquimalt children remember him putting the first 25 Landing Completed in 1980, this beautiful seaside walkway offers spectacular children to arrive at his door on New Year’s Day on a payroll of 25 DUNSMUIR MACAULAY views of the harbour. cents per month for the year. Those arriving later received $2 on their Garry Oak birthday, a nice sum in those days! To learn more about John Dean Meadow 4. 507 Head St., called “the Big House,” was built by shipwright Walkway Entrance read Blessings in Plenty or Sacred Heart by local author Jarrett Teague. LYALL West Song Wa Alexander Watson for Captain Victor Jacobson in 1893 as a PARADISE 3 y wedding gift for his wife Minnie. Plans for the house, described as 10. 856 Wollaston St., was built by Herbert Frederick Bourne,CE, 8 in the Italianate style or “Steamboat Gothic,” came from Victorian the Township’s second engineer. A third storey was gained when the Sailor’s Cove Marina Architecture, a house pattern book, by Bicknell and Comstock. The Mansard roof was raised in the 1990s. The Waddington family resided GORE West Bay Captain made his fortune in the sealing industry. For many years in the house for many years. Frederick Waddington, a manual training 4 the Jacobson family home was the sternwheeler Distributor tied up instructor at Lampson Street School, also organized the school choir 5 Hidden Harbour alongside the Captain’s wharf in West Bay. that placed first in many local music festivals. 6 DND West Bay Marina / Floathomes / Ferry Dock / RV Park 11. 851 Wollaston St. was designed by architect Francis Mawson Property HEAD 7 Old Main Gate Rattenbury. His more notable commissions are the Provincial Work Point 2 3 8. “Keyton,” 1110 Greenwood Ave., was built in 1913 for Richard Walking Tour Two Orchard. For a number of years it was home for Constable William J. Fleming Beach - Saxe Point Parry, RCMP who joined the force in June 1935. In 1943 he was one of the crew of RCMP vessel St. Roch to receive the Polar Medal given 1. Fleming Beach, named for Harold and Edgar Fleming, well-known to “those who render extraordinary services in the Polar Regions and photographers, who arrived in Victoria in the 1880s from London, Canada’s north.” St. Roch, a wooden schooner, was the first ship to England. They built their house “Viewfield” near the beach. It was completely navigate North America. the first house in the area to have a telephone installed. Edgar was 9. “Rosemead,” 429 Lampson St., a Tudor Revival style home was primarily a portrait photographer. In July 1896 he joined an expedition designed by architect Samuel Maclure and built in 1908 for T. Harry exploring Vancouver Island led by Rev. William Washington Bolton (see Slater an early realtor and Tour 3) and John William Laing. The Fleming Bros. studio was located 4. 1179 Munro St., a dignified Beaux Arts style house called developer. Despite the many at 1014 Government St. “Stonehenge,” designed in 1909 by architect P. Leonard James, additions and alterations, it was 2. Walk past the Esquimalt Anglers’ Club House and the rock climbing was designated heritage in 1998. James, in partnership with Francis given heritage designation in English Inn wall out to Buxton Green, named to honour the family of Percival Mawson Rattenbury, designed the Crystal Garden (now Victoria November 2013. Formerly the (Tich) and Phoebe Buxton and their 14 children. Tich and eight sons Conference Centre), once the largest saltwater swimming pool in Old England Inn (established by served in the Canadian Army.