Blunden Harbour is a place of waterfalls and rivers, of deer and wolves, of birds and seals. A place of windy forests gently covered in a blanket of mist. A place where dreams come from.
Blunden Harbour is located on the mainland, directly across from Port Hardy, at the entrance to Bradley Lagoon. At the turn of the century, the village at Blunden Harbour was inhabited, but it has mostly returned to the forest and the sea. But if you take the time, you can still see the remains of the longhouses lined up on the beach. The old chimney is all that is left of the house that was tucked around the corner from the village site. A few of my wife’s older uncles were born here.
If you look around at the forest, you can see strange, unending shaded spaces full of shadows flickering among the dark and aged tree trunks. If you close your eyes and listen carefully, you can still hear children’s laughter coming from the village beach or the beat of feast drums on a winter’s night. Then you realize that the people might be gone, but not their spirit.
I spent the winter in Blunden Harbour back in 82, I explored the area extensively and found many historical places. Where the old chimney is located around the corner from the village site, it is all that’s left of an old house, perhaps the home of a turn-of-the-century logger, but I am not sure. Out behind this homestead was an oxen road that was still quite visible. I followed this road as it wound its way back into the coastal forests. I did not reach the end even though I followed it for many km.
On an island out in the entrance to Deep Cove were the remains of a small farm, and down the coast at Cohoe Bay, I found an old cranberry farm. It was winter and there were so many cranberries. For Christmas, I harvested a goose and then gathered up a good feed of cranberries, we ate well that night.
I took the skiff into Bradley Lagoon a few times to explore, there is an amazing outflow here, at low tide it can drop a couple of meters, but at high slack tide, you can run tight into the lagoon. This is such a beautiful area on our coast.
On an island out in the entrance to Deep Cove were the remains of a small farm, and down the coast at Cohoe Bay, I found an old cranberry farm. It was winter and there were so many cranberries. For Christmas, I harvested a goose and then gathered up a good feed of cranberries, we ate well that night.