The Hamilton cabin has been occupied by just two families. It was first leased at about 1917 by Bill and Annie Wilshire, we think for $25 a year. Their son Wilfred was seven at the time.  We're not sure whether anyone camped on the site before them.

 

The Wilshire's tented at first, but built the kitchen, living room and front bedroom of the current structure in the first few years. That part of the cabin is entirely finished with varnished "bright" 2 1/4 inch wood that may have been salvaged from a boat.

 

Our cabin is unique in that it has been lived in year-round for much of its history. Bill and Annie Wilshire lived at Buccaneer Bay after Bill retired as a superintendent with the Vancouver police force, we think during the Depression. They left the island to be close to health facilities when Bill had a heart attack, around the early 50's.

 

Wilfred Wilshire, now 88 and living in Richmond, was the second generation of Wilshire's to live at the Bay. He moved to Thorrnanby in the mid-fifties, along with his wife Grace, whom he met at Buccaneer when she was a young teenager babysitting Bill and Gordon Davidson. Wilf added the back bedroom, bathroom and sleeping shack to the cabin to make room for their children Jim and Kay, and six grandchildren. Wilf had a hand in building many other cabins as well including the Smith-Baker cabin where he and Grace then lived for a time as caretakers for Joe Simson. Grace cleaned and baked pies for Joe. Wilf also did runs to Water Bay in his huge one-tonne 1949 Dodge flatbed truck.

 

In 1974, a truck ride cost $2.  That year Jim and Adele Hamilton bought the cabin for $38,000 and the Wilshire's moved to Davis Bay.  Since Jim's death in 1983, the cabin has been shared by Mitch and Andrea Hamilton, Jim and Adele's children. Andrea is married to Neil Chrystal,and they have two boys -Tyler, 2, and Gavin, 6 months. Uncle Mitch has no children to date. He's usually joined at the Bay by his girlfriend Jeana Holloway.

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Although the cabin is incredibly well insulated and designed for winter use, the Hamilton's have yet to spend a winter in it, notwithstanding Andrea's fantasy at age 13 of living alone at the Bay with only a horse for company.

 

Given the cabin's history, however, perhaps year-round life at Buccaneer By lies ahead for a Hamilton.