Last week's Undercurrent picked up on two letters from Metro Vancouver at the last council meeting announcing the restoration of Seaside cottage and the hiring of a caretaker. Bowen Heritage would like to expand on that and highlight what an important good news story this is for Bowen. Seaside is the pretty white cottage on a small bluff beside the pathway over the Lagoon. There is one theory that Samuel Maclure, a famous BC architect at the turn of the last century, had a hand in its design. Money allocated for restoration of that cottage is very exciting news for those of us interested in heritage preservation, which should be all of us. It is an important part of our heritage building inventory, its restoration will strengthen the heritage "precinct" which will add to the richness of the stories to be exploited to our advantage with our tourism, or soft industrial, efforts. This is a definite win/win story.
Bowen Heritage has been working with Metro for many years to restore and save the few remaining Union Steamship cottages in the province, that, formerly in the hundreds, now seem to exist only here in Crippen. And Metro Vancouver has been a good partner. Remember that Crippen is at a considerable distance from the more popular parks in their regional system and we have close to, if not, the fewest visitors, yet we are not forgotten. Metro has paid for latecomer sewage hook-ups and restoration of two, and now a third cottage. When they had the area rezoned "tourist accommodation" they agreed to one low cost housing unit and that too is what this activity is bringing to fruition. Plus, they have hired a local crew to do the restoration and a local man to fill the caretaker role. It also adds another resident into an area that has been empty and needs some tender loving attention.
Thank-you, Metro Vancouver, for your care, effort and generosity.
Bowen Heritage
