If you’re rattling down the back roads of Merville on your way to Mount Washington or searching the Tsolum River for a good swimming spot, you might stumble upon an eroding mass of concrete the locals affectionately call Drac’s Castle.
This isn’t a location you’re likely to find in one of the flyers on the ferry but it does remain a rich piece of Valley history. There was a time that this shell of a building was a confluence of logging activity. What was once an outpost of the burgeoning forestry industry has since become a moss garden, a dilapidated alternative art gallery, and also a great place for a photo shoot. It’s easy enough to find if you know where to look. The same could be said of a myriad of interesting and beautiful places in our area going unexplored and unappreciated.
Development, disaster, and ignorance have hidden a lot of these gems buried under foliage over the years yet they remain for the finding. If you’re looking for a point of interest you won’t find on a map, or an après ski that’s a little out of the ordinary, just pull over on the way down from the mountain and take a wander into the forest. You might be surprised at what you find.
Check out our more recent article from Volume 36, which features an update on this story.
