Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse
Craigflower Farm was one of Vancouver Island’s first farming communities. In 1850, the Hudson’s Bay Company purchased land on Victoria’s Gorge Waterway from the Kosapsom First Nation. Craigflower Farm was established three years later to provide supplies to the Hudson’s Bay Company here and the Russian American Company in Alaska. Kenneth McKenzie and 18 farmhands went to work clearing land and building homes for the farm community. McKenzie built a Georgian-style Manor modelled after the home he had left behind in Scotland. In 1855, the Craigflower School was opened with 26 students. Today, the original Manor and the oldest surviving schoolhouse in Western Canada still stand here. |
