From the far end of the headland trail in Pipers Lagoon Park, the view north across the water is of a handful of small wooden buildings perched on bare rock. The City of Nanaimo's own description of the park singles them out: from the headland, it says, visitors get "a great view of historic Shack Island and the southern point of Neck Point Park." In the summer of 2025 the Nanaimo Museum made the same cluster of islets the theme of its annual heritage art show, and a 19-piece show hung in its community gallery from early July until September 1. The judges' choice was an acrylic by Peggy Kry titled Red Shack, according to the Nanaimo News Bulletin.
The shacks are the thing most people photograph. The park around them is the reason they can see them at all.
A lagoon with two names and a whaling past
On provincial maps the water is Page Lagoon. The BC Geographical Names record places it at the south-east end of Hammond Bay, at the north end of Nanaimo, and says the name was adopted by the Geographic Board of Canada on April 2, 1911. "Piper Lagoon" appears in that record only as a local name, passed on by the city's planning department in February 1983, with a frank note that nobody knew how long it had been in use or what "Piper" referred to.
The Nanaimo Museum fills that gap. Its 2025 exhibit text says the area lies in Snuneymuxw First Nation territory, that white settlers first called it Page's Lagoon, and that in 1917 Joseph E. Piper and his two sons bought 142 acres of land that took in the bay and nearby Neck Point. The provincial file and the museum are not in conflict so much as written at different times by people asking different questions; the museum's account is the one that explains the name now on the park signs. The city itself is inconsistent about the apostrophe, writing "Pipers Lagoon" on its park page and "Piper's Lagoon Park" on its dog-rules page.
A short detour into the lagoon's industrial past is worth taking, because it explains a second name. The provincial record, drawing on Peter Trower's history of B.C. whaling, says the Victoria Whaling Company set up a station here around 1907. It did not succeed, and neither did a later attempt to turn dogfish into fertilizer, which shut after one season. The factory was taken apart, shipped to Moresby Island and rebuilt at Rose Harbour in 1910. The museum dates the station to 1907 and 1908 and adds that it led Japanese Canadian fishers to call the place Kujira Bay, kujira being the Japanese word for whale. Nothing of the station is described as surviving in the park, and the city's park page does not mention it.
How the headland became a park
The park's origin is recorded in a single line of the same provincial place-name file: a 19-acre site at the lagoon "was purchased by the provincial government, deeded to the City of Nanaimo, and identified as 'Piper Lagoon Park'" in a press release dated February 1, 1983. The City of Nanaimo now gives the park as 8 hectares, and a 2016 city blog post rounds it to 20 acres, which is the same piece of land described three ways.
That is as much as the public record shows. Neither the provincial file nor the city's current pages say who asked the province to buy the land, what it cost, or what else had been proposed for the headland before 1983. Naturalist Dave Ingram, driving Hammond Bay Road in 2012, called the area "heavily developed" and the park the thing that made the drive worthwhile. Whether a public campaign stood behind the purchase, and who led it, is a question the city's own records would have to answer.
Other Nanaimo green spaces were kept the same way, by public money buying private land, and the long argument over saving Linley Valley West is the better-documented example in the north end of the city.
The isthmus, the shacks and what grows on the rock
The park is built on an isthmus that runs out to a rocky headland, in the city's words, with twisting trails leading to a string of seaside lookouts. A 2016 city blog post describes a main loop that is mostly flat, with a few hilly stretches and rocky sections where visitors have to scramble. There is a lower trail that avoids the scramble, but the city warns it is passable only at low tide.
Ingram's account from January 2012 adds detail the city pages leave out. A short dyke leads to the rocky island that makes up most of the park. The open beach is gravel giving way to larger rock near the outcrops, while the sheltered lagoon side, at low tide, holds Japanese littleneck clams, snails, shore crabs and marine worms. He found the lagoon mud firm enough to walk in rubber boots without getting stuck.
He also gave the shacks a date. "At the far end of the park is a great view of the rustic 1930s fishing shacks on Shack Island," he wrote, adding that they were "still used as summer cottages by descendants of the original owners." That was the situation as one naturalist understood it in 2012, not a title search, and his is the only dated description of the buildings among the sources here. The practical point stands either way: the shacks are not part of the park, and the headland is the place to look at them from.
The headland itself is Garry oak country. Ingram described a mixed Garry oak and arbutus meadow with a carpet of Pacific sanicle under the trees and broad-leaved stonecrop on the east-facing bluffs. He also found spurge-laurel, an invasive garden escape whose berries are poisonous. The city's 2016 post talks about "dramatic, gnarly Garry Oak meadows" and rock shaped by the waves. The arbutus here is the only broad-leaved evergreen tree native to British Columbia, and in 2021 arbutus trees from Sooke to Parksville were reported with the blackened leaves of a blight that strikes trees already stressed by drought. Volunteer work parties with city staff pull invasive plants here: Mayor Leonard Krog named Pipers Lagoon at the council meeting on May 4, 2026, alongside Colliery Dam, Linley Point Gyro, Neck Point and Bowen parks, as places where that work takes place.
Visiting Pipers Lagoon Park now
The park address is 3600 Place Road. Ingram's directions run from Hammond Bay Road onto Lagoon Road and then right onto Place Road for the main parking area; there is also access at the end of Lagoon Road at low tide, though he thought the main lot the better choice. The city says the gate opens at 6 a.m. all year and closes at 11 p.m. from April 1 to October 31 and at 7 p.m. through the winter, with a note that the times can change.
Dogs are the most common source of confusion. The city lists Pipers Lagoon as a no-dog area from April 1 to October 31, and for the rest of the year names it among its sensitive park ecosystems, where dogs must be leashed. Elsewhere in the city a dog off leash outside a designated area means a $150 fine per dog.
Birds are the other draw. The city's list runs to gulls, sandpipers, horned grebes, loons, kingfishers, oystercatchers and great blue herons, and its 2016 post notes the gulls dropping shellfish on the rocks to crack them. Ingram expected shorebirds in the lagoon during migration, "if they haven't been run off by dogs."
Since spring 2026 the park has had a new use after dark. The city and the Nanaimo Astronomy Society installed two viewing pads for telescopes and interpretive signs showing the night sky in each season, as a pilot project reported by the News Bulletin on May 28. "It's been a long-term vision of the Nanaimo Astronomy Society to have a dedicated protected location where the general public can enjoy the night sky," said Chris Boar, the society's secretary. The longer goal named in that report is Urban Star Park designation from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
The bluffs deserve respect. On June 1, 2025, a woman in her 40s fell an estimated 12 to 15 metres on the north-east side of the park and was flown to hospital with multiple fractures. Four weeks later, on June 29, a 19-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman fell roughly 7.5 to 9 metres in the same part of the park and were hauled back up the cliff in a Stokes basket. Troy Libbus, assistant chief of operations at Nanaimo Fire Rescue, gave similar advice both times. "Stay back 10 feet from all edges," he said in June. If you are walking the headland in late summer, when he warned that dry ground turns slippery with loose soil and gravel, his advice is the one to remember.
Two other parks on the coast that changed hands
Pipers Lagoon is one of several waterfront places on this stretch of Vancouver Island that became public land through a purchase. Two others, both north of Nanaimo, have better-documented stories.
Moorecroft Regional Park in Nanoose Bay began as a girls' camp. Gertrude Moore opened it in 1934 and named it after her family's homestead in Ontario, according to the Regional District of Nanaimo's management plan for the park. The United Church of Canada bought the property in 1955 and ran it as a summer camp, then as a year-round retreat. A large deficit led to the termination of all staff in 2002, and in 2007 the church's presbytery backed a sale in principle. The regional district bought the land in March 2011, with The Nature Trust of British Columbia raising funds to help.
What protects Moorecroft is a legal instrument rather than a council promise. As a condition of sale, the church required a conservation covenant on the title, administered by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the management plan says its zoning protects about 93 per cent of the park. The plan describes a sensitive Garry oak ecosystem within the Coastal Douglas-fir zone and records the site's earlier use by the Snaw-naw-as (Nanoose First Nation). The regional district's park page gives the area as 35 hectares; the plan gives 34.4. The park is at 1563 Stewart Road, and its gate opens at 7 a.m.
Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, 3 kilometres south of Parksville, takes its name from William Rath, a prospector who arrived in 1886, BC Parks says. After he died in 1903, his widow Elizabeth ran the farm and eventually a campground, adding "Trevor" for a more lyrical name. It became a provincial park in 1967. BC Parks describes a 2-kilometre beach where the tide goes out almost a kilometre, 5.5 kilometres of mostly wheelchair-accessible trails, and campsites within a five-minute walk of the sand. Reservations are required in summer.
The park has been rebuilt in pieces. In June 2016 the province announced $400,000 to remove a 650-metre concrete seawall and restore a more natural shoreline with woody debris, cobbles and native plants, work the Parksville Qualicum Beach News reported was expected to be finished by spring 2018. In 2023 a section of trail was upgraded for access and the day-use parking lot was paved. BC Parks calls Rathtrevor one of the island's best places to see migrating Brant geese from February to April, and pets are barred from the sandy day-use area along the east shore all year.
The Shack Island buildings remain the least documented part of the park: painted, photographed, made the subject of a museum show, and still missing a public account of who built them.
Questions
Where is Shack Island in BC?
Shack Island is in north Nanaimo, beside Pipers Lagoon at the south-east end of Hammond Bay. The Nanaimo Museum describes it as a cluster of islets, and the City of Nanaimo points to the headland of Pipers Lagoon Park as the place to view it from.
Can you visit Shack Island?
The public viewpoint is the headland trail in Pipers Lagoon Park. A 2012 account by naturalist Dave Ingram described the shacks as summer cottages still used by descendants of the original owners, so they should be treated as private places, not part of the park.
How old are the shacks on Shack Island?
Dave Ingram's 2012 write-up calls them rustic 1930s fishing shacks. It is the only dated description among the sources consulted, and it does not date individual buildings, so treat the decade as a general guide.
Why is it called Pipers Lagoon if the map says Page Lagoon?
Page Lagoon is the official name, adopted in 1911 according to the BC Geographical Names record. Pipers Lagoon is the local name. The Nanaimo Museum links it to Joseph E. Piper, who bought 142 acres here with his two sons in 1917.
How big is Pipers Lagoon Park?
The City of Nanaimo gives the park as 8 hectares. The provincial place-name record describes the 1983 purchase as a 19-acre site, and a 2016 city blog post rounds it to 20 acres, so the figures agree within rounding.
Are dogs allowed at Pipers Lagoon Park?
Not from April 1 to October 31, when the city lists it as a no-dog area. For the rest of the year it is one of the city's sensitive park ecosystems, where dogs must be kept on a leash.
What are the gate hours at Pipers Lagoon Park?
The city's park page says the gate opens at 6 a.m. all year. It closes at 11 p.m. from April 1 to October 31 and at 7 p.m. from November 1 to March 31, with a note that the times can change.
Is Pipers Lagoon good for stargazing?
The city chose it for a dark-sky pilot in 2026, with the Nanaimo Astronomy Society. Two viewing pads for telescopes and seasonal sky signs were installed, and the partners have said they hope to pursue Urban Star Park status with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
Is the headland at Pipers Lagoon dangerous?
The bluffs are steep in places. In June 2025 Nanaimo Fire Rescue carried out two cliff rescues on the north-east side of the park, and its assistant chief advised staying at least 10 feet back from edges.
Is Moorecroft Regional Park protected?
Yes. A conservation covenant registered when the Regional District of Nanaimo bought the former camp in 2011 is held by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the park's management plan says about 93 per cent of the land is protected under it.
Do you need a reservation to camp at Rathtrevor Beach?
BC Parks says reservations are required in summer and calls the campground a very popular destination year-round. It suggests Englishman River Falls and Little Qualicum Falls parks as nearby alternatives.
What upgrades has Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park had?
In 2016 the province set aside $400,000 to remove a 650-metre concrete seawall and restore the shoreline. In 2023 a section of trail was rebuilt for better access and the day-use parking lot was paved.
Sources
- Pipers Lagoon Park, City of Nanaimo
- Picture a Park: Pipers Lagoon Park, City of Nanaimo, 2016-02-24
- Dogs in Parks, City of Nanaimo
- Page Lagoon, BC Geographical Names Office, Province of British Columbia
- Heritage Art: Shack Island, Nanaimo Museum, 2025-07-18
- Artists consider the charm of Nanaimo's Shack Island for heritage exhibit, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2025-08-11
- Pipers Lagoon Park, Dave Ingram, Island Nature, 2012-01-29
- Plants of Pipers Lagoon Park, Dave Ingram, Island Nature, 2012-02-02
- Telescope viewing pads installed at Nanaimo's Piper's Lagoon Park, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2026-05-28
- Woman airlifted to hospital after falling from cliff in Nanaimo park, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2025-06-02
- Man and woman injured after falling over cliff in Nanaimo park, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2025-06-30
- Nanaimo encouraging participation in Invasive Plant Removal Month, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2026-05-09
- Moorecroft Regional Park, Regional District of Nanaimo
- Moorecroft Regional Park Management Plan: 2012-2022, Regional District of Nanaimo, 2012
- Rathtrevor Beach Park, BC Parks
- $400K for Rathtrevor shoreline, Parksville Qualicum Beach News, 2016-06-15
- Accessibility upgrades completed at Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, Parksville Qualicum Beach News, 2023-04-01
