Blackwood Park 

 

Imagine here a little creek flowing by, water pooling from rocks and hills above, licorice ferns and sea blush tucked into the rocky outcrop, or skunk cabbage on the swampy banks. Imagine a productive ecosystem, linked to the Salish Sea, where species thrived and food was gathered.

 

Where you are standing, Rock Bay Creek flowed eastward toward the ocean, entering Rock Bay at Finlayson Falls. With the arrival of European settlers, this parcel of land was used for farming, then houses and roads were built.  By the mid 1800s, the creek running here would have crossed John and Josette Work's Hillside Farm which once covered much of today's Hillside Quadra neighbourhood.

 

The natural history of Blackwood Park determined its current use. Too damp to be built upon, it has instead become a place to play and gather, a neighbourhood respite nestled within the city's noisy traffic. Thinking like a watershed, we might now imagine the creek's revival and a future for this land that includes a glimpse of its wild and watery past.