Miracle Beach/Cumberland/Drive 19A October 02, 2024

We went to Cumberland to see what we could see. As many places on the Island this community start as a coal mining town. Originally named Union.

Today it is an artsy trendy kind of place. Complete with is own brew pub.

Lots of cute cafés and shops.

This building was an opera house originally later becoming a movie theatre. Not sure of its role today but ilo can stand for International Labour  Organization. 

This is the Waverly pub and hotel now.

This is what it used to look like. After work the coal minors came here for a beer and a bath. Usually in that order. This is a recreation in the Cuberland museum.

The museum focused on resistance and resilience.

This letter was written on the type writer below it. It was written by a Japanese Canadian from the Tanga family.  The family were internet during  WWII in the Pacific. Their home and many of there belongings were seized bythe Custodian of Enemy Property. Many of these people were born in Canada. The Canadian goverment promised to return the property after the war. The letter contests that their property was sold for next to nothing receiving $30 for his house.

These are painting by contemporary First Nations artists. Their artist statements talk about the atrocities that happened when Europeans moved into their territories. It also acknowledged the resistance and resilience of these Nations.


The third group the museum highlighted was the plight of the coal minors. Especially the Chinese minors whose conditions were worse and they were paid half of white minors $1 a day/16 hours. Most tunels were not large enough to stand in. Many needed to be crawled  through. 

There were several exhibits about the creation of labour unions. Opps no pictures.

I took a picture of these Italian torot cards because they interested me.

There is also an art project that intrigued me. Creating skate boards then painting them.

After our stroll down main street  Cumberlad we took a "Sunday" drive down hwy 19a - the old road. We drove through Royston, Union Bay(where the coal was shipped out), Fanny Bay and turned around at Qualicum Bay.

 It was a beautiful autumn drive.


🍁🍁🍁