A photograph from across a lake towards a village during winter, and what appears to be six buildings. The back says: union bay last winter the chief took this sometime during 1910-1920. The edges of the photo are faded and there are some creases.
Union Bay is on the east coast of Vancouver Island in the Comox Valley, the territory of Pentl’ach and Komoks people, that used to be a major shipping port for the Union Coal Company. The Union Bay Historical Society was formed in 1989 to preserve historic buildings, with a group of them relocated and restored on what is now known as Historic Row including the 1913 post office and the old jailhouse. The wharves that had been opened in 1889 at the time had been some of the largest in BC, and in 1914 the extension of the railroad reached Union Bay. The final sailing ship to load coal at the wharves was the Pamir in 1946.