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Oak Bay Local

The Oak Bay house detective

Who lived in your house before you?

Black and white photograph of Craigellachie, a three-storey wooden house with a glassed-in veranda above a rock garden on Hampshire Road, Oak Bay, with Ella Joffrey, her mother and William Henderson on the drive, Easter 1904.
Craigellachie on Hampshire Road, Easter 1904. Written on the back of the print: William Henderson (right) bought it from John S. Bowker and sold it in 1912 to W.J. Alder, who still lived there in 1953. BC Archives, B-04360.

Oak Bay wrote down every house it allowed from 1908: owner, builder, rooms, cost. The ledger is free to download. Here is how to find yours in an afternoon, and where the trail goes next.

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November in the village

Woodland walks · fallen leaves · rainy afternoons

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November

2026
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14 in Oak Bay this month, 94 nearbyChoose a day to see what’s on.

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The Oak Bay Poll

Community ballot

If contacted, would you let the deer-vaccination team onto your property this fall?

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