Arts, Culture & History Tours
The only way to know any community in the world is to walk it.
With this in mind, the Comox Valley Visitor Centre has information available about the Town of Comox Heritage Walk. The eight-stop walk spans a range of discovery including history, culture, downtown, the Comox Marina and a walk in the forest. Estimated time frame is one hour.
Great Comox Midden
The tour begins with history. The K'omox First Nation left behind the Great Comox Midden, a subterranean strata of discarded sea shells testifying to a love of shellfish that endured for thousands of years. European settlers arrived in 1862, started their farms and forged on.
Filberg Heritage Park
The walk's opening highlight is Filberg Heritage Park & Lodge, the historic homestead of Robert Filberg, a former president of a giant BC logging outfit, and his wife Florence.
Read More
In the Lodge, look for the ancient First Nations petroglyph – the Mask of the Dancing Frog – embedded, along with British Navy cannonballs, in the stone wall. The landscaped park boasts a tea house, a petting farm and more than a hundred kinds of trees including Dedora Cedars native to the Himalaya. Pause for pictures of park sculptures including "Naida," a reclining nude nymph carved from a single piece of driftwood, and the totem "Strength from our Ancestors." Free Sunday concerts run here from June to September.
Summer's end also marks the four-day Filberg Festival, with more than 120 artisans presenting their work, live entertainment, music from JUNO-winning performers and interesting food.
Downtown Comox
A leisurely stroll on Comox Ave brings a sense of town life with its cluster boutiques, galleries, restaurants and spas. Take time to stroll Fishermen's Wharf – look for fisher's unloading the day's catch.
Off-Tour Diversions
Take time to explore the walk's off-the-trail diversions. Headstones from the graves of early settlers make up the cairn at Pioneer Memorial Park. Nowadays the former cemetery has turned to celebrating life. With its mountain backdrop, it's a local favourite for weddings and picnics.
Willoughby Petters Brothers
Another detour, a large manor house named The Fort, is worth visiting because of its first owners, Sir Ernest Willoughby Petters and his brother Percy. They invented the first British car with an internal combustion engine. They also invented the Petters Horseless Carriage in 1904, and the first British sea plane to participate in a naval battle.
Read Less