Showing posts with label John Dean Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Dean Park. Show all posts

Monday, July 19, 2021

John Dean Park, North Saanich, Will Always Be the Park of John Dean


The early 20th century pioneer John Dean was in 1921 the first landowner to donate land in British Columbia to become a park for forest preservation and public enjoyment. John Dean Park, with its spectacular views overlooking Saanich Inlet, was preserved for ecological diversity, wildlife, and the health and enjoyment of human generations to come. 

John Dean was born in England in 1850, immigrated first to the US, and then to Canada in 1873. He lived in Rossland where he became the mayor and worked for the CPR and in mining, and then arrived in the Victoria area in 1906 to work in real estate and insurance. He retired in 1912 and died in 1943 at age 93.

The BC Park named after him contains the now-rare Coastal Douglas Fir Ecosystem, and includes trees up to 70 meters high -- higher than any tree still standing in the whole of Dean's native United Kingdom, and higher than any conifer in all of Europe.

The forest here is a gorgeous enclave of emerald mossy trunks lit up by slanting rays of sun, and of petrichor, the heady scent of leaves and grass drying in sunlight after a rainfall, releasing botanical oils that trigger feelings of pleasure and well-being in the brain and nervous system.

It is our good fortune that this early immigrant brought with him values supporting the importance of nature for the health and enjoyment of all. Generations of CRD families have enjoyed a day out under the trees which John Dean caused to be preserved, enjoying the patches of original forest that resulted from his generosity, and contemplating the era of BC history in which he lived.

How mean-spirited then that the park which Dean had the foresight to preserve and which was logically named after him, has been re-named with a label meant to "reconcile" people, but which has no meaning for the visitor driving past the peculiar new sign on the roadway outside the park.

John Dean's name is still there beside the one in the unknown language, but printed in smaller letters as if to demote him (and presumably all others of his ilk). There is an implicit erasure here of aspects of shared history.

Had it not been for John Dean caring about the future of his adopted country, this unique stretch of forest might well be a housing development or mall by now, as much of the rest of the Saanich Peninsula is. We owe him more than an ideologically-dictated de-platforming of his name.


Emerald moss on trunks




.

Sunday, July 12, 2020

More Dining With History -- With John Dean and Major Cuthbert Holmes

Two more local (CRD) parks perfect for a picnic on a summer day: 

Cuthbert Holmes Park, easily accessed from the parking lot at Tillicum Mall/Silver City movie theatre, offers shade-lined trails and the gently coursing Colquitz River. Enjoy lovely views from the bridge. You can walk through woods to Portage Inlet and there, once you've worked up an appetite, find a mossy tree limb to set out your picnic on. Spread your blanket and enjoy social distancing from humans, but not from birds. You may see woodpeckers, herons and hawks; stay until evening and you might notice owls. 

This park is named for Major Henry Cuthbert Holmes, born in India in 1890 and arriving in BC in 1902, becoming "Major" during World War I and marrying into the local Despard Pemberton family. He was a great greenbelt promotor, and president of Pemberton Holmes real estate company. Involved all his life in civic planning, he knew the importance of green space for quality of life, as at the park named after him.

If you go a little further out to the Saanich Peninsula, take your picnic to another park named for a pioneer -- John Dean who in 1921 donated the land for the park -- the first to do so in BC. 

John Dean was born in England in 1850, immigrated to the US, and then to Canada in 1873, living first in Rossland where he was mayor  and worked for the CPR and in mining, before arriving in the Victoria area in 1906 to work in real estate and insurance. He retired in 1912 and died in 1943 at age 93.

The park named after him contains the now-rare Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem. It contains trees up to 70 meters high which is higher than any tree still standing in the whole of Dean's native UK, and higher than any conifer in all of Europe.

It is our good fortune that these early immigrants brought with them values supporting the importance of nature and greenspace for health and enjoyment. It makes an interesting day out under the trees to contemplate this part of local history and to enjoy the preserved patches of original forest that resulted from the foresight of early settlers.


Cuthbert Holmes Park

For 6 more places to dine with history, see the post above
 (June 23rd)

.