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About eight miles long, between three and four miles wide and sitting an the entrance to Howe Sound - 14 miles northwest of Vancouver - Bowen Island has gone through several metamorphoses.
Originally a native Indian summer camping place for hunting and fishing, the early Caucasian settlers started arriving in the 1870s - the start of farming and logging on Bowen.
Almost 100 years ago, at the turn of the century, Bowen started its celebrated life as a resort destination, mostly for day excursionists. Captain John Cates and his Terminal Steamship Company started the process, building a hotel and cottages in the Deep Bay area, just a five minute walk from Snug Cove.
In 1920 he sold to the Union Steamship Company and there started Bowen's golden days as a resort community. The hotel - the Bowen Inn - was enlarged and eventually 180 rental cottages dotted the company's land, along with half a dozen picnic grounds and the now refurbished Old General store.
More than 100,000 visitors a year came to Bowen on the company's flagship, the Lady Alexandra, famous for its Saturday night dance cruises, when it would unload upwards of 1000 passengers to dance the night away at the Dance Pavilion. The pavilion is now long gone and the property is occupied by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Lodge on Cardena Road. Post World War Two affluence and an automobile in every carport spelled the end of the old-fashioned resort. People had other things to do.
By the 1950s the steamship service was discontinued and the island gradually moved into its current phase as a largely residential area, with an increasing emphasis on commuters who live on the island, but work in Vancouver.
Quite a few years ago now, Rondy and Dorothy Dike acquired the rights to the Union Steamship name for their marina which includes Doc Morgan's Inn, a restaurant and marine pub, thus recreating a destination resort only 40 minutes from downtown Vancouver.
Bowen has an active business community these days, serving the island's 3000 permanent residents and another 1000 seasonal residents who live here in the summer. The most accessible of all the local islands, it has hourly car ferry service to and from Horseshoe Bay. The day excursionists still find Bowen an attractive destination as there are many outdoor activities from hiking or walking in Crippen Park, 700 acres of parkland with well marked and maintained trails, to kayaking the waters of the Howe Sound with Waterways Explorers or simply exploring the island by bicycle.
As for its name, the island originally was discovered by a Spanish explorer in the late 18th century and named Isla de Apodaca. The British took over shortly thereafter and in 1860 a British naval surveyor re-named the island after Rear Admiral James Bowen, one of the heroes of a 1794 naval victory over the French fleet.
But in the eyes of longtime Bowen residents, the Union Steamship Company had the best name for our island - the Happy Isle. Of course, they could have been prejudiced.
R. J. Dike
Originally a native Indian summer camping place for hunting and fishing, the early Caucasian settlers started arriving in the 1870s - the start of farming and logging on Bowen.
Almost 100 years ago, at the turn of the century, Bowen started its celebrated life as a resort destination, mostly for day excursionists. Captain John Cates and his Terminal Steamship Company started the process, building a hotel and cottages in the Deep Bay area, just a five minute walk from Snug Cove.
In 1920 he sold to the Union Steamship Company and there started Bowen's golden days as a resort community. The hotel - the Bowen Inn - was enlarged and eventually 180 rental cottages dotted the company's land, along with half a dozen picnic grounds and the now refurbished Old General store.
More than 100,000 visitors a year came to Bowen on the company's flagship, the Lady Alexandra, famous for its Saturday night dance cruises, when it would unload upwards of 1000 passengers to dance the night away at the Dance Pavilion. The pavilion is now long gone and the property is occupied by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Lodge on Cardena Road. Post World War Two affluence and an automobile in every carport spelled the end of the old-fashioned resort. People had other things to do.
By the 1950s the steamship service was discontinued and the island gradually moved into its current phase as a largely residential area, with an increasing emphasis on commuters who live on the island, but work in Vancouver.
Quite a few years ago now, Rondy and Dorothy Dike acquired the rights to the Union Steamship name for their marina which includes Doc Morgan's Inn, a restaurant and marine pub, thus recreating a destination resort only 40 minutes from downtown Vancouver.
Bowen has an active business community these days, serving the island's 3000 permanent residents and another 1000 seasonal residents who live here in the summer. The most accessible of all the local islands, it has hourly car ferry service to and from Horseshoe Bay. The day excursionists still find Bowen an attractive destination as there are many outdoor activities from hiking or walking in Crippen Park, 700 acres of parkland with well marked and maintained trails, to kayaking the waters of the Howe Sound with Waterways Explorers or simply exploring the island by bicycle.
As for its name, the island originally was discovered by a Spanish explorer in the late 18th century and named Isla de Apodaca. The British took over shortly thereafter and in 1860 a British naval surveyor re-named the island after Rear Admiral James Bowen, one of the heroes of a 1794 naval victory over the French fleet.
But in the eyes of longtime Bowen residents, the Union Steamship Company had the best name for our island - the Happy Isle. Of course, they could have been prejudiced.
R. J. Dike
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