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| John Craven-Jones was the first black teacher. |
By Maryanna Gabriel
There is a story here that where Harbour House Hotel now stands there was a continuous high mound where the parking lot is. Back in the day someone decided they wanted a tennis court and began clearing the burm. It turned out to be a mounded First Nations burial site. A woman with sense stopped the clearing, in those days there was no watch-dog heritage board, and the bodies were relocated for burial to the rear of the property. And so one cultural group overtakes another, a story as old as time and thus the tennis court was created.
It is said there were many tribes that had claim to Salt Spring. The earliest carbon dating is 4,000 years ago but it is thought that occupation commenced much earlier. There is a story told of First Nations warfare right in Ganges harbour just as the black population began arriving from the States by invitation from Governor James Douglas. They settled on the southern side of Ganges adjacent to the white pioneer community around 1859. With some bewilderment and also warranted aggression the Indian population that lived here felt their new “guests”, black and white, to be a bit rude settling in and helping themselves without prearrangement or compensation.
A royal navy gunboat was sent from Esquimalt to settle things down.
There is a story here that where Harbour House Hotel now stands there was a continuous high mound where the parking lot is. Back in the day someone decided they wanted a tennis court and began clearing the burm. It turned out to be a mounded First Nations burial site. A woman with sense stopped the clearing, in those days there was no watch-dog heritage board, and the bodies were relocated for burial to the rear of the property. And so one cultural group overtakes another, a story as old as time and thus the tennis court was created.
It is said there were many tribes that had claim to Salt Spring. The earliest carbon dating is 4,000 years ago but it is thought that occupation commenced much earlier. There is a story told of First Nations warfare right in Ganges harbour just as the black population began arriving from the States by invitation from Governor James Douglas. They settled on the southern side of Ganges adjacent to the white pioneer community around 1859. With some bewilderment and also warranted aggression the Indian population that lived here felt their new “guests”, black and white, to be a bit rude settling in and helping themselves without prearrangement or compensation.
A royal navy gunboat was sent from Esquimalt to settle things down.