I am a writer, photographer, historian and artist interested in all things Cumberland. Wandering the local forest trails daily I gather wild edibles to photograph and paint. Recently downsized from working in the Broadcast Industry, my day job involves volunteering as a researcher and conducting tours of Cumberland Chinatown, No.1 Japanese town and the old mine sites for the Cumberland Museum and Archives.
Laura Dempsey never knew her father, Hiromi Kaga, who died when Laura was a few months old. As an adult, she reconnected with her dad’s family, and, with their support, […]
Laura Dempsey never knew her father, Hiromi Kaga, who died when Laura was a few months old. As an adult, she reconnected with her dad’s family, and, with their support, […]
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Words and photo by Dawn CopemanPainting by Bill Maximick
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Cumberland Museum & Archives Executive Director Rosslyn (Rozz) Shipp and longtime museum sponsor Raymond Heung were discussing ongoing projects in October 2022 when the idea of creating a new book […]
Words by Dawn CopemanIllustration by Jennifer Eaton
Starting in 1888, a vast labyrinth of extraction tunnels was carved beneath the village of Cumberland, the old Bevan and Puntledge townsites, Comox Lake, and many areas between. When visitors […]
“Expect mountain bikes, hikers, runners, dogs, children, and elders on these trails.” —excerpt from the Interim Trail Management Strategy for the Cumberland Community Forest Park, May 2021 It’s nine o’clock […]
A few years ago, there was a local kerfuffle because a new sign on the Inland Island Highway proclaimed: “Welcome to Legendary Cumberland.” That’s the difference between old Cumberland and […]
By all accounts, Johnny Bannerman is a very nice young man. He’s a member of the Cumberland Volunteer Fire Department, a devout churchgoer, and a Mason. Naturally athletic, like all […]
Words by Dawn CopemanPhoto courtesy of The Cumberland Firehall
While looking at a 1931 photo of a crew of men seated on a logging raft, long-time Cumberland resident Karl Cameron reminisces about the stories his father, Pete (sixth from […]
Words by Dawn CopemanPhoto provided by Cumberland Museum & Archives
Near the end of July 1918, the blackberries were just starting to ripen, a welcome development for the hungry draft evaders who were hiding in the hills behind Comox Lake. The mission […]
When I was a little girl in the 1960s, we’d play hand games to amuse ourselves: cat’s cradle, shadow puppets, and a charming little finger riddle that had us chanting to […]
It’s 5:30 a.m., April 15, 1942. The full dark of night is just lifting. Suitcases are packed and weighed and packed again. A last board is hammered into a window […]
Walking along the old Wellington Railway trail where alder, hard hack and osier dogwood create a bower of beautiful for wildlife, I smell the coal dust still blowing from the […]
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