Hello Zoe,

I came across this site by chance and at once saw your name. Do you know if you are related to the fine painter, Charles Napier Hemy (no hyphen)? He lived in the Newcastle area of England, 1841-1917, and my niece is married to his great grandson. The odd thing is that my niece as a child lived in Lynn Valley for a few years, as her father brought his family to Canada in about 1963 and returned to England in 1970. She is aged about sixty now.

Monkey Puzzle Trees, also known as Chilean Pines, became all the rage in the 1900s. Most of Metro’s Monkey Trees come from that time.

Growing up in North Van, I remember those monkey puzzle trees, although I did not realize that was their name until many years later – I always called them “snake trees,” for their appearance. I knew the stone wall pre-dated the Lynn Valley Lodge (as it was first known) from reading about it in one of my many books of BC history but can’t recall where! As for the Lodge yes it was still very new in 1973 or so when I attended there with my Brownie pack (the 47th North Van pack, based at Boundary School, with Mavis Toovey as Brown Owl) a few times to sing songs and visit with the residents. Thanks for these great pix Eve!