Duke Point is a geographical location in the extreme southeastern part of the city of
Nanaimo
Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "Hub City," which was ...
in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
. It is located on a thin peninsula to the east of the
Nanaimo River estuary, just across the Northumberland Channel from
Gabriola Island.
An industrial park is located at Duke Point, which includes one sawmill. The
Duke Point ferry terminal
Duke Point is a major ferry terminal owned and operated by BC Ferries that provides ferry service across the Strait of Georgia to Tsawwassen. The ferry terminal is located at Duke Point in Nanaimo and is the only major terminal in the BC Ferries ...
is also located here, but there are no public transit connections.
History
Before Duke Point became an industrial park, there were searches for archaeological sites on the peninsula.
Several sites were found and these examinations found that the settlements on Duke Point belonged to the
Coast Salish
The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the C ...
and were around 4,000 years old.
The site also revealed that Duke Point was used as a seasonal ground for the Coast Salish.
In 1980, the BC Development Corporation bought the Jack Point land from private owners, and the Duke Point land from then
MacMillan Bloedel, and then levelled and serviced the lands to create the industrial park, three sawmill sites, and a 2 berth shipping terminal (only one berth was built). The 350 acre Duke Point Industrial Park was built by the BC Development Corporation from 1980 to 1983, under the Federal/Provincial Industrial Subsidiary Agreement ("TIDSA"). The Duke Point Ferry Terminal was built on Provincial land outside the TIDSA lands, and sits on land that was originally called "Jack Point", but which was amalgamated with the Duke Point Land. Originally, the Jack Point land was separated from the Duke Point land by Canoe Pass, that connected the Northumberland Channel to the waters of the Nanaimo Estuary.
See also
*
Nanaimo Harbour
References
External links
*
Neighbourhoods in Nanaimo
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