Sunday, March 20, 2011

A Sunday drive to a local old fishing village and London Farm.

It's a gorgeous Sunday Morning, why not go for a short "Sunday Drive" and check out Finn Slough?
I've lived here 20 years and I've never been there, camera in hand, off I go...Won't you join me?

Finn Slough is a tiny Fraser River fishing community located at the south end of No. 4 Road in Richmond, British Columbia. The community has approximately 30 residents who live in wooden houses both floating and built on stilts along the marshy river bank. Many of the buildings were built between the late 19th century and 1950s and many have decayed severely, while some have been carefully restored. Finn Slough was founded by Finnish settlers who came to Richmond in the 1880s. Most of these residents made a good living from fishing and ended up as local landowners.
The sleepy and decaying village of Finn Slough has been repeatedly photographed, and it appears on numerous postcards sold throughout Vancouver tourist shops.

http://www.finnslough.com/

What a great place, it's like stepping back in time...speaking of stepping, this old bridge, which is a "draw bridge" has a "cross at your own risk" sign on it! LOL

I found two old floats on the ground by the road and took 'em home!

Doesn't EVERYONE?

There is beauty in everything!

This basket is huge!

A bit of an odd place to park your bike, don't ya think?

Keeping watch.

"Dinner Plate Island School"

This is hung on the outside of one of the abandoned fishing shacks.

Sit a spell.


This is the view on the other side of the road!

Water on one side, mountains on the other! Beautiful!

On the way home, a short stop for a quick tour of London Heritage Farm. http://www.londonheritagefarm.ca/

History of the Farmhouse

Charles Edwin London, aged 16, and his brother William, aged 17, arrived in British Columbia from Ontario in 1877. Three years later, the brothers purchased 200 acres of land for $2000, erected a small farmhouse and began clearing and draining the land in preparation for farming. In 1888, Charles married Henrietta Dalzeil of Dalbeattie, Scotland, and started building the farmhouse that still stands today.
London Heritage Farm, photo from Archives

London Heritage Farm, photo from Archives

The farmhouse was built in two stages, with the back, northern wing being completed first and the front, southern part of the house added in the 1890s and finished in 1898. The house is situated in its original location. In addition to the house and farm, the London’s established a general store and post office and built a wharf to receive supplies and to ship their milk and produce (hay, oats and vegetables) to New Westminister.
Charles and Henrietta London had eight children, of whom three died in infancy as was common in those days. Henrietta died in 1916 and the family stayed at London Farm only another three years before selling up and moving to the Marpole area of Vancouver. However, in 1921, Lucy (the London’s eldest daughter) and her husband, Herbert Howse, bought the farm back. They farmed and raise their family at London Farm until 1948. Thereafter, the farmhouse was rented by a series of families until its purchase by the City of Richmond in 1978.