Craigdarroch Castle - Victoria, BC

Craigdarroch Castle, pronounced Craigderrick, is a Designated Canadian National Historic Site.

When the castle was finally ready for occupancy, Roberts wife, Joan, three of their daughters and two orphaned grandchildren moved in.  Since Joan Dunsmuir's death in 1908, the Castle has been used as: Craigdarroch Military Hospital; Victoria College (the predecessor of the University of Victoria); offices for the Victoria School Board; the Victoria Conservatory of Music; and finally today as the Craigdarroch Castle Historic House Museum.

Now owned by a not-for-profit charity, conservation of this national treasure is funded almost exclusively from revenues contributed by approximately 100,000 annual visitors.

Click on the photo to enlarge it for better reading.

Looking up as we entered the home, we could see the staircase leading up to the top floor.  Beautiful! 

The wood in the library is Spanish mahogany.  The cylindrical radiators are part of the house's original heating system and are still functioning as part of the modern system.

The radiator in the hall was a quarter circle so it fit in the corner.  So cool!

In the garden entrance alcove stands this Swiss bear hallstand that is original to the house.

The 1898 Steinway piano come from Hatley Park, home of the Dunsmuir's eldest son James.   The stained glass window depicting a woman and a swan is a reproduction of the original; all other windows in the room are original. 

A fine art conservator restored the original hand painted and stenciled ceiling, removing five layers of house paint.  the ceiling received its first coat of institutional paint in 1935 during the Victoria College period.  This is a small section of the ornate ceiling.

The table, original to the room, had only five of the seven leaves inserted.

The windows each had three movable shutters.  They could be moved down as far as the lowest one so the window could be raised.

Widow Joan Dunsmuir spent time here managing the vast family business.

This work of art was not explained by any sign but I believe it to be hair art.  Very intricate.

 

From 1919 to 1921, the castle was occupied by the Craigdarroch Military Hospital.

From 1946 to 1968 the home was occupied by the Victoria School Board.  1969 to 1979 - Victoria Conservatory of Music.  1969 to present - Historic House Museum.

The Billiard Room was used by the Dunsmuir daughters to relax and entertain.  This billiard table is not original to the home but is the same size and manufactured by the same company as the original table.  Graffiti was carved into the wood paneling by Victoria College students and has been preserved as part of the history of the house.

The large ballroom on the top floor has some examples of formal wear from the Dunsmuir era.

Look at the intricately carved back on this chair.

Views from the dance hall were impressive.  I'm sure it was even more so back in the day when the castle was surrounded by 28 acres bare of other homes.

As the tower was round, so was the door leading from it to the dance hall.  The floor tiles came from the Minton Tile Company of England.

 

No bleached white toilet paper at that time.

The stained glass window depicts Sir Walter Raleigh who is credited with making tobacco popular in Britain.

This is a seed wreath.  Dang that took a long time to make!

Wood ornament that hung down from the top of the staircase.

Newcastle Island and the Dinghy Dock Pub

I sure appreciated our friends showing us around their island.  We saw so many things that we wouldn't have seen if they hadn't showed us.   They took us to Nanaimo, pronounced Na-ni-mo, to go to Newcastle Island Provincial Marine Park.

Since the park is on a different island, we had to take this ferry to get there.  Newcastle Island is the one on the upper right and Protection Island is on the upper left.

Looks like you will have to click to enlarge this photo of the island park.

 

We laughed when we saw this plaque on the boat.  After all, we were in Canada.  I can't imagine 75 people on this boat!  We might have had 30 on it and that was enough.

The next few photos are of boats we saw on our short trip to the island.  The island we are going to is the one on the right side of this photo.

 

Once on the island we started off on the trail that goes completely around it.  If you follow the complete outer trail, it is 7.5 km or 4.5 miles.  We skipped a short section but we still walked over 4 miles.  The house across the way is on Protection Island.  Yes there are a lot of islands in a small area.

Looking back towards Nanaimo.

Our friends called the red tree on the right an Arbutus tree.  We called it a Madrona tree.  When we got back home I looked it up and here's what Wikipedia says:  Arbutus menziesii (Pacific madrona, madrone or Arbutus) is a species of tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from British Columbia to California.  It is also known as the madroño, madroña, bearberry, or refrigerator tree. In the United States, the name "madrone" is used south of the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon and Northern California and the name "madrona" is used north of the Siskiyou Mountains, according to the "Sunset Western Garden Book". In British Columbia it is simply referred to as arbutus.  We were told on another tour that these trees are also found in Mexico where the locals call them "tourist" trees due to the fact that they have peeling, red skin.  LOL

 

Whoo, someone wasn't prepared for the tide to go out!  Actually it looked like they purposely beached the boat.  Logs were placed under it to keep it level.

 

Doesn't this tree look like a bird?  Notice the beak and eye on the left.  Interesting.

After out walk we were hungry so we took the ferry to The Dinghy Dock Bar.  Yes it's a floating restaurant on the shores of Protection Island.  Protection Island got it's name because it protects the harbor of Nanaimo.  

 

We had great fish and chips then posed for this photo before taking a smaller ferry back to Nanaimo.