Nelson Island (British Columbia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Island defined by Hotham Sound, Agammemnon Channel, and Malaspina Strait near Pender Harbour, British Columbia. Largely depopulated and forested, the hilly island is quite remote. Log booms and granite quarries featured on the island. There were once a few homesteads, and now summer cabins. Harry Roberts, namesake to Roberts Creek, Sechelt, built a sawmill in Sechelt which provided lumber for most of the new houses in the area and for the government wharf, and timbers for the 13 bridges necessary to construct Lower Road. He was well-known for his unique house and boat designs - much of the lumber he produced was used in their construction. He also built and furnished small cottages to rent to vacationers and eventually subdivided as the demand for land grew.

In 1923, Harry leased out his mill and store and moved with his family to a retirement home on Nelson Island in 1929. The house he built here, called Sunray, was a charming cottage with south-facing walls of glass. It still stands in its idyllic cove at Cape Cockburn. It was Harry who originated the term Sunshine Coast. He painted a huge sign, visible from the ocean, on the side of the steamer company's freight shed near his Roberts Creek store.