Vananda Oceanview Home for sale: 4 bedroom (Listed 2010-05-25)

10240

$349,000

Parcel E, Block 20, DL 7, Plan LMP43248
PID 024-588-806

$1,362 (2009)

Rural

While keeping its old style charm, this unique home over time has had extensive updates and additions including plumbing, wiring, patio, decks, 2 sunrooms, & roof, to name a few. You can observe all that Coastal living has to offer through your many windows. The heritage characteristics have remained throughout this home with most of the original old growth trim, beautiful spiral staircase, library, attic which could be developed, big kitchen, french doors, bay window, window seat, and many stained or leaded windows.

It is situated on a well manicured & mature 1/2 acre with beautiful gardens, and many masonry walls, steps and ponds. This home would make a gorgeous B&B or family home in the heart of Vananda on Texada Island. Outbuildings include garage, storage, wood shed, workshop and studio. The wharf and beach are only a half block away.

The property is comprised of 4 1.2 lots, to equal 120'x180'. There is approximately 2,678 sq.ft of indoor living space, 3,625 sq.ft including roofed veranda and open decks.

The home is heated by wood stove, oil furnace, and /or electric heat an the plumbing and electric have been updated. The asphalt shingles have been replaced on the roof over the past few years.

Kitchen

Texada Island is the largest island in the Strait of Georgia of British Columbia, Canada. Its northern tip is located about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southwest of the city of Powell River and west of the Sechelt Peninsula on the Sunshine Coast. The property is located within Van anda, the most populated community on the Island.

Getting here is easy with 10 ferries per day from Powell River's Westview ferry terminal to Blubber Bay in just 30 mins. KD Air provides 4 scheduled flights per day from Vancouver South terminal or Qualicum Beach to the Gillies Bay Airport, which has a 3000 foot paved runway for that smooth landing.

FROM VANCOUVER ISLAND
Take the Comox ferry to Powell River then take the ferry from the same terminal to Blubber Bay on Texada. Make sure you get into the lineup for Texada and not Comox.

FROM VANCOUVER/LOWER MAINLAND
If you leave Horseshoe Bay on the first ferry in the morning this scenic trip will get you to Blubber Bay on Texada at approximately 1:00 in the afternoon:

Take the Horseshoe Bay ferry to Langdale. Crossing time is 40 mins. Food service is offered on this trip.

Drive from Langdale to Earl's Cove (takes about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours driving - this is the longest stretch of the journey) then line up for the ferry to Saltery Bay. Crossing time is 50 mins.

Drive to Powell River (about half an hour) and take the ferry from there to Texada Island ferry terminal at Blubber Bay. Crossing time is 35 mins.

BY AIR
KD AIR offers 4 flights daily from Vancouver South Terminal to Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island to Gillies Bay Airport on Texada Island.

CLICK HERE to visit the KD Air website.

Septic, hydro, community water

Powell River
Powell River with a population of 22,000 is the largest center closest to the property, a 15 minute drive south. Powell River is an increasingly popular community to live because of its low cost of living and a quality standard of life.

So many natural wonders surround this area. From the ocean at your door step to a choice of 100 some odd lakes all within a short drive. Myrtle Point Golf course is fantastic and challenging championship par 72 course. The Recreation complex has 2 sheets of ice, swimming pool, workout facility, aerobics, whirlpool, sauna and a theatre. Practically any type of sport can be found in the community weather you are a player or a spectator.

Recreation abounds here with excellent hiking and mountain biking trails, over 250 species for the avid birdwatcher, 9-hole golf course, kayaking from Shingle Beach to historic Jedediah Island marine park, skimboarding and swimming at Shelter Point Campground beach and exploring the newly protected Karsk Caves near Davies Bay.

Try 4 x 4-ing to Anderson Bay Provincial Park with tremendous mountain-high photo opportunities of Malaspina and Georgia Straits along the way. The outdoors can be enjoyed without fear of any major predators, as there are no bears, cougars, wolves or poisonous snakes on Texada. If scuba diving is your idea of a great holiday, then Texada environs are dripping with life boasting warm, high-visibility waters.

Marble Bay/Sturt Bay provides good anchorage and the Texada Boat Club offers dockside moorage with water and power at reasonable rates for the transient boater.

For your added enjoyment Texada has many events throughout the summer months.

Texada was named by the Spanish naval explorer José María Narváez for Felix de Tejada, a Spanish rear-admiral during the 1791 expedition of Francisco de Eliza. Narváez gave the name Isla de Texada to what is now called Lasqueti Island, and Islas de San Felix to Texada Island. The maps made by Eliza and Juan Carrasco in late 1791 moved the name "Texada" to the present Texada Island. A century later the north end of the island became a fishing outport. For a few years, humpback whales were flensed on the beach, giving the place the epithet of Blubber Bay. Grey Whales migrating from California to Alaska pass by Texada Island. Twelve basking sharks were slaughtered as sport in Blubber Bay in 1947.

In 1876, a whaler called Harry Trim discovered iron ore, and mining began in earnest.Iron mines were explored and floated in 1876, with Premier Amor de Cosmos being involved in a land and mine scandal. The iron was used off and on—some going into Seattle built battleships, the USS Oregon, for the Great White Fleet; gold mining was also important.

Copper was discovered at Van Anda about 1898, with the Copper Queen mine and the Cornell mine started. A smelter, tramway and town was constructed. The community was named after Van Anda Blewett, son of American mining capitalist Edward Blewett, (who in turn named a town with the surname in Washington State). J. D. Rockefeller invested in the iron mines, though he quickly sold having lost money on a Monte Cristo, Washington venture near Everett. The iron mines were picked up by the famed Union Iron Works of San Francisco. Canadian investors Sir William Mackenzie and Donald Mann also speculated in the Van Anda mines. Farms, orchards, logging and a sawmill were set up on Texada at this time as well. By the turn of the century, the copper boom was in full swing but the mines only yielded for a few years. Van Anda hosted an opera house and a Chinatown. A series of fires demolished the Van Anda townsite—the last in 1917. Sail races were also run from Vancouver to Van Anda around this time.

By 1910, Pacific Lime Company and BC Cement had set up limestone quarrying operations at Blubber Bay and Marble Bay. For almost a century, limestone quarrying continued. Much of the product was shipped to Seattle, Oregon or California. Railways, cableways and concentration plants were built for the mines, as was the arbutus-shaded company town of Blubber Bay. Limestone pits were dug all around the north section of the island. Lime kilns for sintering quicklime were raised around the northern end of the island. One survives at Marble Bay and gives the name to Lime Kiln Bay. Other mines included an iron ore mine near Gillies Bay run by Kaiser Aluminum which shipped ore to Japan and Germany after 1945.

Cheslakee (steamboat) capsized at Van Anda, BC, 22 Jan 1913.Coastal ferries connected the island with the nearby cities of Vancouver and Nanaimo. The Union Steamship Company Cheslakee capsized off Van Anda with a loss of life in 1913. While the Anglican Church of Canada maintained a mission boat for the coast based from Van Anda, and the Rev. G. Pringle noted "that for many years his wife kept an oil burning lamp in his window as the only beacon to guide navigators of boats big or small into the rocky bay. I have been through the [Great] War, but some of my experiences afloat, or ashore, in storm or fog, along this coast, tried me as much, so for as a strain on my nerves was concerned, as those wretched days of Lens or Passchendaele." The head of the Mission, John Antle, preached for a while in Roslyn, Washington, very near Blewett, so the connections are many[not specific enough to verify]. A floating hospital was built by Columbia Coast Mission Boats and moored at Van Anda, until its need was greater in Knight Inlet and was moved[when?]. On November 6th, 2004, the tug Manson, skippered by Dusty Davison, sank off Texada Island.

During U.S. prohibition, the island was a supply point for illegal alcohol into the United States, with a famous illegal distillery operating on the east shore. The remains of the hooch boiler can be seen on the beach. Blubber Bay quarries were the scene of a vicious strike in 1938.

Logging and limestone production continue to this day.