Nearby Cities: Delta, Ladner, Tsawwassen
This mainly agricultural area lies south of Vancouver, east of the Strait of Georgia, between the south arm of the Fraser River and Boundary Bay. Highways 91 and 99 provide easy
access from this 336 square km municipality to Vancouver and its airport and to the United States.
The district municipality, incorporated in 1879, was named for the flat delta land at the mouth of the Fraser.
There are a number of charming attractions right along River Road in Ladner: Captain Cove
Marina, Ladner Harbour Park (with protected rabbits), a playground with picnic tables and
walking trails, St. John's Fishing Lodge, and the Ladner Crab Trap Factory.
The Reifel Bird Sanctuary on the west end of the Fraser's south bank, west of the village of Ladner is a favorite for bird-watchers, being on the major north-south migration route along the Pacific.
Tsawwassen is named for the aboriginal word for "facing the sea". It has beautiful beaches, and good winds for windsurfing between the spit and the ferry terminal. Catch the ferries to Vancouver Island at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. Ferries run to Swartz Bay (by Victoria), Nanaimo, and the Gulf Islands. Sailing time to Victoria is 95 minutes to cover a 39 km distance. Some of the ferries hold 300 automobiles and carry 1,350 passengers.
South of Tsawwassen is Point Roberts, on the portion of the point that drops below the 49th parallel that marks the US Border.
Head south along Highway 17 before ferry, left to 56 Street, through town of Tsawwassen, up
the hill and across the border. Point Roberts forests and beaches, excellent for swimming and
walking. The beaches on Boundary Bay, the sandbars go for a mile at low tide, and provide a
suitable beach for small children. The shores on the Strait of Georgia are much rougher
water; great for viewing, however not good for swimming.
Point Roberts attractions
include the International Market Place on Tyee Drive, Nielson's Lumber Yard
(home of the annual spring Belt Sander Drag Race), the Marina (just past the
market), Light House Park with boardwalk, picnic shelters, boat launch,
playground, lookout tower and a fishing pier. Lily Point provides a 20 minute walk to the cliff
with a graet view of Blaine WA to the east, the San Juan Islands to the south,
and the burned-down ruins of the Alaska Packers Association fishing packing
plant, destroyed in the 1960s.
On the east side is North Delta, bordering Surrey. This community is close and convenient to the SkyTrain running through New Westminster and Surrey.
Coast Salish first nations had settled in the highlands of North Delta and the western beaches near what is currently the Tsawwassen Reserve. Delta's first European pioneers arrived in 1859 and cleared land on the Fraser River shores in North Delta for farming.
Two brothers, Thomas and William Ladner, really began the community of Delta when in 1868, they each claimed 160 acres for farming beside the Chilukthan Slough. This waterway connected the farms and the steamship dock at Ladner's Landing, in the days before roads. Ladner's Landing became the hub of a thriving farming and fishing community, with produce being shipped to New Westminster (then the provincial capital) and Victoria. In 1879, William Ladner became the first Reeve.of newly incorporated Delta
Major floods in 1891 and 1895 cause the ambitious system of dikes and drainage to prevent flooding in the lowlands. The rich, fertile soil produced bountiful crops, and even today, the dike system protects modern farms, growing a wide variety of different foods, from flooding.
Annual festivals, events: Delta Pioneer Days (May), Fraser River
Festival (June).
Here are other communities nearby:
[ Whistler |
West Van |
North Van |
Vancouver |
Richmond |
Delta |
Burnaby |
New West |
Port Moody, Coquitlam |
Surrey |
Langley ]
Community Map
Use mouse to drag/move map. Click on "+" or "-" to zoom in or out. "Satellite" shows photo, "Hybrid" combines map & photo.
|
|
