Denman Island

Denman Island

Geography
Location	Strait of Georgia
Coordinates	49°33′N 124°48′W / 49.55°N 124.8°W / 49.55; -124.8Coordinates: 49°33′N 124°48′W / 49.55°N 124.8°W / 49.55; -124.8
Archipelago	Gulf Islands
Area	51.03 km2 (19.703 sq mi)
Country
Province	British Columbia
Regional district electoral area	Comox Valley A
Demographics
Population	1016 (as of 2001)

Leaving Denman Island on the local Ferry

Denman Island is one of the Northern Gulf Islands and part of the Comox Valley Regional District of British Columbia, Canada, and is home to a small community of 1,016 year-round residents (2001 census). Regular ferry service links Denman Island to both Hornby Island from Gravelly Bay on the east side of Denman and across Baynes Sound to Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island on the west side. Denman Island has long been a haven for people escaping from busy urban centers. Downtown Denman consists of one general store (containing the gas station and government liquor store), post office, a natural foods store, hardware store, bookstore, dental bus (shared with Hornby two weeks a month), craft stores, a bakery/cafe, two real estate offices, an insurance brokerage, two community halls, the Dora Drinkwater Volunteer Library, a community school, and the museum. It is famous for its summer dances, the Martini Lounge Cabaret, quiet roads, and beautiful scenery. Many artists have made Denman Island their home for decades, and as a result there is a thriving local artistic community. The island has a land area of 51.03 square kilometres (19.70 sq mi), and is similar in size and shape to the island of Manhattan.

Denman and Hornby Islands are two outposts that have been described, with some justification, as the "undiscovered Gulf Islands." Big-name celebrities have recently bought property here, complementing a population made up of farmers, baby-boomers, artists, craftspeople and a laid-back mishmash of alternative types.

History

Denman Island was first found and mapped by Europeans during the 1791 voyage of the Spanish ship Santa Saturnina, under Juan Carrasco and José María Narváez. It was named by Captain Richards in 1864 for Rear Admiral Joseph Denman who was commander of the Pacific station from 1864 to 1866.^[1]

Vegetation and soils

Much of the western part of Denman Island is covered by a dense forest dominated by Douglas fir, western hemlock and western red cedar on deep gravelly loam glacial till. Some areas have shallow soils over sandstone or shale. The eastern part has a loamy sand on which arbutus is frequently present. All of these soils were classed as brown podzolic in a 1959 soil survey.

Provincial Parks located on Denman Island

• Fillongley Provincial Park – B.C. Ministry of Environment Site
• Boyle Point Provincial Park – B.C. Ministry of Environment Site

Local media

Denman Island has a monthly news and artistic journal called the Flagstone, a weekly news and advertising circular called the Grapevine and Tree Frog Radio, a community radio station at 89.1 FM.

References

1. ^ "Denman Island". BC Geographical Names. http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/13815.html. 

External links

• The Denman Island Arts Centre
• DenmanLinks.com (free community website
• Denman Island's open Community Website

Other sources

• Day, J.H., L. Farstad, and D.G. Laird, 1959. Soil Survey of Southeast Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands, British Columbia. B.C. Soil Survey, Rept. No. 6, Can. Dept. Agric.
• Denman Island Trust Area, Comox-Strathcona K Regional District Electoral Area, British Columbia; Statistics Canada