About Us
A history of the Douglas Suite
Some History of our Charming Beach Property in Powell River. My parents bought our two-acre Ocean beach property, located in Douglas Bay, Powell River, in the summer of 1965. The locals call it Douglas Bay and that is how I have always known it, but the official name on the map is actually Brew Bay. It is a beautiful beach area with a walk on sandy beach, beautiful blue water and hot rocks you can lay on in the summer sun so you can dry yourself off.
The original cabin sat on a bank overlooking the bay and sandy beach. The cabin faced west towards Texada Island on the other side of Malaspina Straight. My parents bought the property and beach cabin from Joe and Rhoda Donkersley. The Donkersley’s had owned it for many years as a summer beach cabin. This area of Douglas bay was a very popular summer vacation spot for some of the “well to do” folks in the earlier days of Powell River. Our neighbors had the two beach lots to the west of us which they had inherited from their father or grandfather, a Mr. Cooper, who was the Manager at the local Powell River Pulp and Paper Mill. Other families along the beach had owned their properties for many years as well.
Originally they were only summer cottages but now most have been torn down and newer larger beach houses have been built. Our cottage is one of the few original beach cottages left in the area. Our property is just a few minutes walk from Donkersley Beach, so we assume Joe and Rhoda were part of that Donkersley family. Donkerlsey beach, at the foot of Donkersley road, is still a favourite summer spot with its long sandy beach and is one of the top 3 beaches in the Powell River area. We estimate the Cabin was built around the 1940’s?
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I just know it is a quaint old cabin with lots of character. Myself and my brother and sisters have each lived in it for a short spell as we were transitioning out of our family home and going to or coming back from college or travelling. So there is real history in that cabin for our family as well the local community.
My parents sold off the 1 acre parcel at the top end of the beach property so they could buy a 40 acre farm up Zilinsky road. The farm was about a mile up the road from the beach. So we grew up living and working on the farm through the week and then in the summer evenings or weekends we would come down to the “Cabin” for dinner or a swim.
We often had relatives come up and spend a few days or week with us at the Cabin. We had a great time with them swimming and exploring in the tidal pools or climbing the local cliffs out at The Point. When the tide goes out there is a large sandy beach with lots of tidal pools. There were tons of small crabs and fish, Hermit Crabs, Starfish, Sand Dollars and more. Lots of Eagles nesting nearby, Seagulls, Seals, Ravens, killdeer and lots of fish jumping in the evening. We would often go out fishing in our row boat. We did not have an outboard motor for a while so my brother and I would row ourselves or guests all over the bay and catch some nice salmon. We would bake the freshly caught salmon over the hot coals of the beach fire for supper and finish off the evening with a nice marsh mellow roast over the camp fire! Oh and fantastic star gazing, the sky was so dark and clear we used to star gaze for hours! It still is dark and clear and has a fantastic view of the night sky. We can even see the Northern lights at times.
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My parents sold part of the farm to my brother and sister and decided to move down to the beach in 1981. They moved the Cabin back about 30 feet from the bank of the beach and lived in that 300 square foot cabin while they built a new 3000 square foot beach house. Mom always wanted to have a beach house, so this was their dream home. Dad and my brother built most of the new beach house and my parents moved in a couple of years later. It wasn’t quite finished but my mom had had enough of the cabin and wanted to move in to the beach house, so orders were given and dad and John got it ready!
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They lived there for many more years finishing up the house and building Out Buildings, a garden, some fruit trees and landscaping. They of course had lots of family and friends visit.
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There were often guests staying in the Cabin or RV or parking RVs to spend some time at the beach. Mom started a July 1st barbeque to celebrate Canada Day and would invite friends and family down. This has been going on now for many, many years. We have continued the July 1st Barbeque tradition as part of keeping the beach house in the family.
Mom and Dad lived at the beach house up until Dec 2019. The beach property was getting to be too much work to maintain so my sisters and brother helped them find and renovate a condo in Powell River. My wife and I bought the beach property to keep it in the family and as a future retirement home.
We have now renovated the beach house and created a modern spacious 700 square foot 2 bedroom suite on the ground floor that looks out over the beach. We will rent the suite out as a vacation rental and guest space.
We will also be fixing up the Cabin to make that into a vacation rental suite in the near future. I am very excited about that as there is a lot of history and fond memories of that old cabin and I would like others to be able to enjoy it as much as we did growing up.
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There is so much wildlife to see. We have always had black bears and deer coming through the property, looking for fruit from the trees or treats from the garden. Just in the last few months there has been a black bear wondering along the beach in front of the house and a Doe and fawn regularly walk up our drive way from the beach. Recently my sister saw some killer whales and sea lions, so the area is still rich in scenery and wildlife!
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I hope you can get a chance to come to Powell River and check out this beautiful and friendly area.
Cheers
Rob Spick