Crescent Beach - The Sleepy Village of Years Gone By

When visiting Vancouver and British Columbia from other areas, Crescent Beach is a good spot to put on your itinerary. Crescent Beach still harbours the tranquility and peacefulness from when Walter Blackie purchased 150 acres for $50.00 in 1871. The area, then known as Blackie's Spit was later purchased in 1906 by Charles Beecher, for whom Beecher Street and Beecher Place were named.

In 1909, the Great Northern Railway arrived, roads became more than the foot paths they had been and water transportation became a thing of the past. With improved transportation, visitors from Vancouver and New Westminster arrived at Crescent Beach with their picnic baskets and beach blankets. Development began in 1911 - it was the beginning of Crescent Beach as a summer resort.

A lodge and hotel were built, operating between 1906 and 1949. After a fire destroyed the hotel in 1949, the land lay vacant until Beecher Place was built in 1982. In the early years of the 1900's, some of the Vancouver visitors began to build summer cottages. Following this period of growth, a post office, general store, real estate office, meat, fish and produce market, a service station, a hotdog stand and ice cream counter were built.

Camp Alexandria, which currently operates as a neighbourhood house, was established in 1918 as a summer camp for disadvantaged youth and their mothers, and orphaned children. The tiny cabins still exist, and inside the main entrance are sepia-coloured pictures, like those taken from an old family album found in someone's attic.

In 1904, the Crescent Oyster Company opened providing employment for East Indian labourers and some of the local residents. The bunkhouses and company buildings were built on pilings above the high water mark. Remnants of these pilings, covered in barnacles, still exist. Wharves extended out into the deeper water; stark reminders of these are in evidence as well.

Over the years several churches were built, schools and the Royal Canadian Legion. In 1947, the Crescent Beach/Ocean Park Volunteer Fire Department was formed. To this day it remains a volunteer department.

Walking in the area, one has many reminders of Crescent Beach's long ago history. Speaking to a relative newcomer to the area, a resident of about forty years, he said there have been few changes since he's lived there.

A visitor to this area has the choice of walking on the beach or gravelled pathways or following trails into the Blackie Spit area towards the Marina. There are sailboats to watch, sandy beaches for children to play on, picnic tables, a grassy area for games, a choice of restaurants and ice cream and gelato.

Stress and the apparent necessity to hurry don't exist in this idyllic little village; smiles are an automatic response to those that hardly seem like strangers, and it's a place where there's always time for a chat.

Crescent Beach, as in the past, continues to be a popular tourist destination.