New Bridge

With all the fanfare over the new Johnson Street Bridge I have neglected to keep our visitors up to date with another new bridge that has recently been opened to traffic. Pictured above and below, this is the new Admirals Road Bridge over the Gorge near the Craigflower Schoolhouse and Manor. In the photo above, the schoolhouse is obscured by trees of Kosapsom Park on the right. Craigflower Manor is the white building directly above the bridge. This is not a new crossing but a new bridge to replace the old bridge.

While the design is simple and utilitarian I like the generous portion of the the bridge that is allocated to pedestrians and bicycles, especially in comparison to the narrow dimensions of the old bridge.

Admirals Bridge

A few days ago I posted a photo of Tillicum Bridge, the fourth bridge to cross the Gorge. Moving upstream westward the next and final bridge is the Admirals Bridge or Admirals Road Bridge. Some time ago I posted a photo taken from this bridge but have not before posted a photo of the bridge itself. VirtualVacationGuide.com has posted a nice 360 degree panorama of this bridge that you can see by clicking HERE. The bridge connects two of Victoria's most significant historical sites, Craigflower Manor and Craigflower School. The school is the white building visible through the trees on the far left of the above photo. Craigflower Manor was directly behind the photographer in the above photo. Both of these sites have been featured extensively on this blog in the past.

Craigflower School II

Scottish immigrants such as the MacKenzies (proprietors of Craigflower Farm) had great respect for education. The literacy rate in their native Scotland was very high compared to neighbouring England and teachers were respected members of the community. This goes a long way towards explaining the relatively genteel quality of the teacher's sitting room pictured below. Other rooms in the upstairs part of the school building were bedrooms for the teacher's family and for student boarders.

Craigflower School

Craigflower School was originally known as Maple Point School because it was built on Maple Point. This little outcrop where the Gorge narrows was named Maple Point because of a large maple tree that grew there. That tree is visible in all the early photos of the school well back into the 19th century and it is large enough in those old photos to see that it must have been there long before the school was built, long before the first colonists came to these shores. That maple tree, though aged and hollow, still grows on the school grounds and is the gnarled tree on the left in the above photo. When those first colonists arrived, Maple Point had been occupied by native peoples for about 4,500 years, judging by the shell midden that lies beneath the grass in the above photo. To the right of the school is a stand with the school bell on it. When the school first opened it had no bell but shortly afterwards this bell was salvaged from a wrecked steamship and put to service in the school.

Here are a couple of photos of the restored classroom inside the school. On the left we can see the student desks each with its slate and cloth to erase. On the right we see the classroom from the teacher's perspective. Another slate is on the lectern along with a slate pencil. I had always assumed the kids wrote on slates with a piece of chalk. But no, they used a slate pencil - a thin rod of slate with a pointed end. As you can see from my ABC, it works remarkably well and erases easily.

Though the school building is quite large there is only this one small classroom because the building also housed the teacher, his or her family and many of the students. Craigflower School opened its doors in 1856 and served students until 1911. We'll have a look at some of the other rooms tomorrow.

Upper Gorge - Craigflower Manor and School

This photo is meant to serve as an introduction to the next few days' posts. Here we are looking up the Gorge from the Craigflower Bridge. To the left just out of the frame is Craigflower Manor, one of the earliest extant colonial houses in British Columbia, built in 1856. Off camera to the right and behind me is Craigflower School, the oldest schoolhouse in western Canada (1855). Together they constitute a National as well as a Provincial Historical Site. During my visit I was fortunate to encounter a guide both informed and patient who took me inside both of these old buildings and gave me some insight into their history. Thank you, Cailin Glenn, for the great tour. Between them, these two buildings provide a wonderfully evocative snapshot of life in Victoria's earliest days and tomorrow we'll have a look at them as well as what's behind their doors.

Craigflower Manor

Photos: Above, Craigflower Manor. Below, Craigflower Manor on the left, Craigflower Bridge in the centre, Craigflower School on the right. Bottom photo: Manor house rear porch window.

Craigflower Farm was established on land purchased in 1850 from the chiefs of the Kosapsom people, who had lived in the area for millennia. Throughout the farm’s existence, the Kosapsom continued to live on adjacent land, and many became involved in the farm operations, being employed in land clearing, construction, housekeeping and other duties.

The farm was one of four original farms set up by the Hudson’s Bay Company as part of their obligations in settling Vancouver Island. The farms were managed by a subsidiary company, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, with the expectation that they would not only meet their colonizing objectives, but would also reap a profit from the sale of livestock and produce.

In 1853, Kenneth McKenzie and his family along with 18 farm hands and their families arrived in Victoria aboard the "Norman Morison", following a strenuous six month journey around Cape Horn. They soon took up residence on the farm site, and began clearing land and building accommodations. McKenzie oversaw the construction of the farmhouse, which was modeled after his ancestral home in Scotland. On May 1st, 1856, the McKenzie family moved in.

During the 1850s and 1860s the farm site continued to grow and develop. The school was opened in 1855 with 26 students. The first teacher, Charles Clark lived upstairs in the schoolhouse with his family and a number of children from outlying areas who boarded with them.

At that time, there were 20 other dwellings on site, as well as a saw mill, a flour mill, a blacksmith’s shop, a brick kiln, slaughterhouse and a general store. Seventy-six people lived at the farm during this period, but many of the original farmhands chose not to renew their contracts after 1857. The McKenzie family stayed on at Craigflower until 1866, at which time they moved on to their own sheep farm.

The farmhouse was subsequently rented to a series of tenants, but the farm itself did not succeed. The school was closed in 1911, and was subsequently re-opened as a museum in 1931. Eventually acquired by the Province of BC for protection as historic sites, the farmhouse and schoolhouse were declared National Historic Sites in 1967. (From The Land Conservancy Website.)

There is also an excellent description and backgrounder by Maureen Duffus HERE and anaother great source of information from BC Heritage HERE.

Craigflower School II

Above is the Craigflower schoolhouse. When it opened in 1855 it had 26 students, many from Craigflower Manor on the other side of the Gorge. Other students were boarded in the upper portion of the building. To the side is an old pump, probably formerly the source of water for the school and its residents. I have a sentimental fondness for pumps. When I was very young I used to spend summers on my grandparents' farm and I well remember their pump and the wonderful coolness of its water on hot and dusty summer days. I'm sure the kids who went to this school also loved this pump and they must have enjoyed the view of the Gorge from their playground (below). Tomorrow we'll have a look at nearby Craigflower Manor.

Craigflower School

The Craigflower Schoolhouse (originally called Maple Point School), the oldest surviving school building in Western Canada, was built on orders from Kenneth MacKenzie. He came from Scotland with his family in 1852 to establish a farm for the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company.

A school was needed for the children of farm employees, as well as those of arriving settlers. The school was started to be built on August 21, 1854 and was completed February 23, 1855. Lumber and foundation bricks were produced at Craigflower Farm across the Gorge. Glass, hardware, and large bricks were imported from England. Total cost was about $4300.

The two-storey building had one schoolroom, and six rooms for the teacher, his family and student boarders from the western communities. The school opened in March, 1855. That same week a ship's bell from the steamer Major Tompkins, that wrecked off Macaulay Point, was hung in the yard. The first Craigflower bridge was built the next winter linking the school to the Craigflower settlement. The building became a focal point for social and religious events. It was used as a school until 1911, when the new Craigflower School was built across the road (superceded by a third building in 1964).

The old school was vacant until it was converted to a museum which the Native Sons and Daughters of British Columbia ran from 1931 until 1975. The provincial Historic Parks and Sites Branch then acquired the property, restored it and reopened it as a museum too.

This simple structure is side-gabled and has brick chimneys both ends. There is a large fireplace in the schoolroom and another in the teacher's quarters. The fourteen-inch-thick walls are composed of sawn clapboard siding applied to diagonal sheathing over standard Hudson's Bay Company log construction. Hewn horizontal logs were slid down from the top between vertical uprights, the joists hewn and sawn, and the roof timbers sawn. The building was set on a concrete foundation in 1929. (From http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2YHA)

Tomorrow we'll have a closer look at the schoolhouse and at nearby Craigflower Manor, home to many of the children who attended this school.