Qualicum Beach Real Estate

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19 Qualicum Beach Real Estate Properties  |  « Page 1 of 2 »

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About Qualicum Beach

Qualicum Beach is a town located in the Regional District of Nanaimo, British Columbia. As of the 2006 census, the town had a total population of 8,502.

Located on the Strait of Georgia on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island in the shadow of Mount Arrowsmith, the community has been a popular tourist destination for residents of Victoria and Vancouver as well as a retirement community. It is served by the Island Highway (the main North-South highway on the Island) and by a daily train. The community is dotted with rental cottages along the coastline. It has the oldest average population in Canada.

Qualicum Beach is frequently, although informally, grouped as a twin city with the neighbouring city of Parksville.

History

Qualicum Beach, an attractive seaside town on the east coast of Vancouver Island, began as a lumbering, summer resort and retirement area.

The name "Qualicum" comes from a Coast Salish term that means "where the dog salmon run."

In May 1856 Hudson's Bay Company explorer Adam Grant Horne with a group of aboriginal guides, found a land route across Vancouver Island from the Qualicum River to the Alberni Inlet. He also discovered the Haida massacre of local Salish natives. Horne Lake is named after him.

In 1864, the botanist and explorer, Dr. Robert Brown lead a group which explored the area. A road was brought to Parksville in 1886 and extended to Qualicum in 1894. The E and N Railway reached Parksville in 1910 and Qualicum in 1914. H.E. Beasley, a railway official, sponsored the creation of The Merchants Trust and Trading Company which organized the original layout of the town and built the golf links and a hotel in 1913.

A private boys' residential school, the Qualicum College was established in 1935 by Robert Ivan Knight. The school grew through the 1960s but attendance diminished and it closed in 1970. The structure exists today, and though operated as a hotel for many years, is currently vacant and under proposed re-development. It's playing fields have been turned into a housing subdivision.

Doukhobor settlers established a communal colony in the adjoining Hilliers farming district from 1946 to 1952.

Qualicum Beach was officially incorporated as a village on May 5, 1942 and was changed to town status on January 7, 1983. The area is growing quickly with new suburbs and major new highway. Currently, it is a favourite retirement and golfing community.

Transportation

Highway 19A, known as the Oceanside route or the Old Island Highway, runs the length of the town along the shore line of the Strait of Georgia. The modern 4 lane Inland Island Highway, (Highway 19), passes nearby. The Qualicum Beach exit is also its junction with Highway 4, which runs through Cathedral Grove to Port Alberni and on to Tofino, Ucluelet, Bamfield and the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the west coast of the Island. KD Air offers daily service to Vancouver and other locations from the Qualicum Beach Airport. The E&N Railway offers daily passenger service, departing Victoria each morning, stopping in Qualicum Beach en route to Courtenay and returning to Victoria in the afternoon. The town has no marina or harbour but does offer a launching area for trailered boats. French Creek Harbour, is 5 kilometres (3 mi) south on Highway 19A.

Geography and climate

According to Statistics Canada, the town has a total area of 12.45 square kilometers (4.80 sq mi) as of 2001.

Qualicum Beach is located on the Nanaimo lowlands, a narrow plain which lies between the Georgia Basin to the east and the Vancouver Island Ranges to the west. Landforms were significantly affected by the most recent advance of glacial ice which occurred about 18,000 to 19,000 years ago.

The area has cool wet winters with 80 to 85% of the precipitation falling between October and April. The average annual precipitation is 38 inches. Mean daily temperature range from 1 to 3 °C (34 to 37 °F) in January with cloud and rain from north Pacific air masses dominating the winter weather. High pressure ridges over the mainland can block easterly air flows bringing snow and freezing tempearatures during winter but do not persist as moist westerly winds bring above freezing temperatures. North Pacific high pressure cells influence summer weather which is warm, dry and cloudless. July and August have mean precipitation of 17 millimetres (0.67 in) and mean maximum temperatures of 25 °C (77 °F). Although winter precipitation results in surplus moisture at the start of the growing season, summer, particularly July and August, are drought prone. With the longest freeze free days in Canada, at 180 days per year, the area is favourable for agriculture.

See the Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce website for more information.

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