Childhood memories are some of the best. As a young boy I spent my summers on Cortes. It was before the days of ferries and power. We stayed in our little shack on the beach and when the evening darkness came I would ask my father to tell me stories of the olden days. My […]
Tag Archives | Cortes Island
The Hunt for Chris (Chris’s Lagoon)
I get asked, “Who was Chris’s Lagoon named after?” My father and grandfather would have known but it never came up in a conversation I can recall. Chris’s Lagoon is a saltwater lagoon situated on the south side of Bartholomew Road opposite Sprungman’s Pond. An entry in John Manson’s diary confirms the name was in […]
Spring Migration Bird Count Event, 7 May 2022
Cortes Island Spring Count – A Success! The weather on May 7 was very favourable for the approximately 20 birders that partook in the Cortes Island’s Spring Migration Birding Event organized by the Cortes Island Museum. A total of 14 lists with species names were collected and just over 90 species tallied. It is an […]
Christmas Bird Count 2021/2022
Christmas Bird Count 2021/2022 – by George Sirk Sunday, 5 January 2022, was a wonderfully brisk birding day for the 29 participants of the Cortes Island Museum’s Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Probably the coldest weather in the twenty years that the Museum has been sponsoring the count. The daytime temperature dipped to minus […]
His Story – LEST WE FORGET – Basil Evans Whiting
Just in time for Remembrance Day, the Cortes Island Museum’s Artifact Committee received the poignant donation of several war medals awarded to Basil Whiting. The Whiting family were Cortes Island’s residents during the Second World War (WWII) living on what is now Robertson Road. The following information is taken from the Campbell River Genealogy Society […]
Wrapping Up “From the Archives”
— Valerie Wernet, Cortes Island Museum The summer season is coming to a close, and the archives team at the Cortes Island Museum is wrapping up our summer photo-sharing campaign, “From the Archives.” The course of the summer brought twelve weeks of hand-selected photos, each with a unique theme, and it was a great […]
ABUZZ with Gratitude
“ABUZZ” with GRATITUDE! A big thank-you to Cortes beekeeper, Jenny Hartwick, for bringing her demonstration hive to the Museum’s Listening to Bees exhibit. It was fascinating to watch the worker bees attending their queen and to see brand-new bees emerging from their cells. Everyone present, particularly the kids (future beekeepers?), enjoyed listening to Jenny’s experiences […]
Peter Police
As someone who has always been fascinated by pioneer life, I have spent much of my time on Cortes exploring old homesteads – digging up old bottles from the roots of trees, trying to determine what sort of structure a couple of old mossy planks once formed, and writing stories about the lives I imagined […]
Mrs. Tooker’s Legacy
As I was born and raised on Cortes Island, I am familiar with the now-blue building on the way to the Whaletown public docks. When I was little, I would pass the Louisa Tooker Library when I went with my mother to get the mail. It never seemed to be open (you can currently visit […]
Western Pine Elfin
Western Pine Elfin (Callophrys eryphon), spotted by Melanie Boyle in Cortes Bay on May 13, 2021. The Western Pine Elfin (Callophrys eryphon) is a North American butterfly that ranges from British Columbia east to Maine and south to southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Males are brown and females are orange-brown, with both having bold patterned hind wings. The top of the wings have dark bars […]
Red Admiral
Red Admiral ((Vanessa atalanta), first reported on our butterfly page by Barry Saxifrage, and spotted on Cortes Island near Salmonberry Lane in June 2021. The distinctive black, orange and white red admiral is one of the most commonly seen butterflies, with a range extending from New Zealand to North America. It is a mid-sized butterfly […]
Living History – Old Roses
OLD ROSES – LIVING HISTORY – The Heritage Garden at the Cortes Island Museum Here are the seven Old Roses in the Heritage Garden. Moss Rose Most different varieties of this type of rose were introduced in France and were popular in the 1800s. They bloom once in June and the shrub in the Heritage Garden […]
