Comox Walking Tours

Filberg Park, Carol Clemens photo

The only way to know any community in the world is to walk it. With this in mind, the Comox Valley and Courtenay Visitor Centres provide explorers with a carefully mapped and detailed Town of Comox Heritage Walk brochure available free of charge at either office. 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. 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. The past comes into play at the old Lorne Hotel, built in 1878 and the oldest licensed hotel in BC. Named for Canada's Governor General, the Marquis of Lorne, it remains a landmark and icon from a vanished frontier era.

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.

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