Chemainus, on Vancouver Island’s east shore, is a little town snuggled between a mountain range and the ocean, isolated by a river cutting it off from the south and a major highway to the north. Chemainus is located between Nanaimo and Victoria in the Cowichan Valley. Other picturesque towns located nearby are Duncan, Ladysmith and Lake Cowichan. Chemainus is a town born at the hands of labourers; with its only industry failing, Chemainus showed the world its true spirit and determination and was to achieve fame through the hands of artists.
This is the condensed recent history of The Little Town That Did. The original industries of mining, fishing, and forestry provided employment to many, including Chinese’ bull gangs’ who struggled to move large lumber beams to ships in the late 1800s. The cultures of Japanese, South Asians, Scots, and Germans blended in this melting pot as they sought riches in the mines and then stayed to work in the forests and on fishing boats. The beautiful Cowichan Valley has been the home of The Original First Nations peoples and their ancestors for countless centuries, their history and lives interwoven with those of the first white settlers in the area.
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