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Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park

1240 Rath Road, Parksville, British Columbia, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1967/04/20

Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park; BC Heritage Branch, 2006
beach view
Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park; BC Heritage Branch, 2006
ocean view
Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park; BC Heritage Branch, 2006
Rath House exterior front view

Other Name(s)

Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park
Rathtrevor Campground

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1942/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2014/09/04

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park is a 347-hectare park and campground located on the east shore of Vancouver Island approximately three kilometers south of Parksville, British Columbia. This historic place includes a two kilometer stretch of beach, open grassy areas, and large sections of forested uplands interspersed with numerous campsites. The park is also the location of standing and below-ground historic remains, remnants of the historic Rath family farm, and the twentieth-century Rath House.

Heritage Value

Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park is valued for its cultural landscape, its historic structures and remains, and its historical and contemporary use as a camping facility and beach-oriented recreation destination. The park also serves as a reminder of the original character and appearance of the Vancouver Island shoreline in this region.

Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park is an important cultural landscape which tells the story of the evolution of an historic nineteenth-century homestead, established by Irish gold prospector, William Rath, and his young family in 1886. This popular provincial park preserves a number of relict and active cultural and natural resources which embody the human history of this site. Domestic ruins and buildings are important because they illustrate the evolution of the Rath family’s settlement on this land, which began in a simple vernacular log cabin and ended in a twentieth-century residence a short distance away. Structures and landscape features which relate to the history of the family’s farm are valued as surviving examples of the early agricultural endeavors which provided subsistence for many families in the area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The modern use of Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park as a camping facility is also an important part of its historical and social value. In the early twentieth century, as a means of earning supplementary income, the Rath family began to allow recreational use of their land, known then as “Rathtrevor Campground”. This coincided with the development of auto touring as a popular recreational activity in British Columbia. Recreational use as a campground and picnic area has increased since the site was added to the provincial park system on April 20, 1967. The ongoing use of this place for this purpose is important because it reflects both the development of commercial recreation and tourism as a prime focus of the local and provincial economy, and the social value of this place as a beach-oriented recreation destination.

Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park also has aesthetic value for its views of Georgia Strait, its majestic old growth trees, and its broad sandy beaches, stretching up to a kilometer wide at low tide. The combination of beach, woodland and open fields reflects the site’s evolution from homestead and farm to campground and public recreation area, and is a tangible reminder of the scenic character and appearance of the east central Vancouver Island shoreline prior to the recent urban development that now surrounds the park.

Source: BC Heritage Branch and BC Parks

Character-Defining Elements

Key character-defining elements of Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park include:
- Its size and relationship to the waterfront
- Surviving below-ground historic remains of the Rath family’s earliest homestead, currently covered by a parking lot
- Surviving below-ground historic remains of the Rath family’s second home, which was originally located near the current Rath House
- Surviving elements of the Rath family farm, including remains of the barn, sections of fence, fruit trees, and hay meadows
- The 1942 Rath house and key features of its original design which relate to the Rath family’s occupancy, including interior spatial configurations, historic wooden windows and doors, and exterior stucco cladding
- The continued use of the site for camping and day-use recreation
- The combination of beach, woodland and open fields
- The unobstructed ocean views

Recognition

Jurisdiction

British Columbia

Recognition Authority

Province of British Columbia

Recognition Statute

Park Act, s.5

Recognition Type

Provincial Park (Establishment)

Recognition Date

1967/04/20

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

1886/01/01 to 1886/01/01
1967/01/01 to 1967/01/01

Theme - Category and Type

Developing Economies
Extraction and Production
Peopling the Land
Settlement
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
Sports and Leisure

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Park

Historic

Leisure
Tourist Facility
Food Supply
Farm or Ranch

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

BC Heritage Branch and BC Parks

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

DhSb-53

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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