British Columbia Heritage Articles

Here are interesting articles on wider British Columbia heritage themes that delve into a range of topics in some detail.

Major MacFarlane & the Malahat

MacFarlane’s Folly: The Building of the Malahat Highway on Vancouver Island

Before there was a highway over the Malahat Highway on Vancouver Island it was a huge obstacle to transportation and economic development. Its construction is an epic story that extends over decades. Now that its built it presents even more challeges as its danagers threaten to over shadow its successes.The story of Major James Francis Lenox MacFarlane's campaign to have it constructed helps to frame an understaning of the political and engineering challenges faced today.

Major MacFarlane’s Version of the Locating of the Route of the Malahat Highway

A letter to the editor by Major MacFarlane sets the story straight on the creation of the Malahat.

BC Coast Stories

Caretaker of Twin Islands Lodge – A Retreat for Royalty and Celebrities in the Strait of Georgia Twin Islands

21/11/2018 Shirley Whitehouse spent six years, from 1958–1964, on Twin Islands at the northern end of Georgia Strait where she and her then husband George Lott were caretakers and hosts of a magnificent log lodge – Twin Islands Lodge – frequented by well–known royal and celebrity guests.

Nauticapedia

Site News: November 2, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,538 vessel histories (with 16,140 images and 13,887 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3989 images). Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 35,000 processed so far this year.

Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia's floating heritage.

My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who continues (almost every day) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.


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