Sherri Robinson has worked on her latest literary work for so long, she has to pause a moment to calculate the years.
B次元官网网址淚t began ... 2002,B次元官网网址� the long-time Esquimalt resident says with a laugh. B次元官网网址淲hat I started in 2002 was the researching.B次元官网网址�
When Esquimalt turned 90 years old that year, Robinson knew she wanted to do something special to mark the townshipB次元官网网址檚 100 years as an incorporated municipality.
After years of effort, she'll publicly unveil Esquimalt Centennial, 1912 to 2012, during Buccaneer Days, happening on Saturday and Sunday (June 9 and 10).
Given the amount of research involved, the author and historian could easily have written more than 144 pages. The book covers the military, heritage buildings, public figures, sports, schools, churches, pubs, parks B次元官网网址� even municipal bylaws.
Though the title of the hard-bound, sewn book suggests a 100-year history, Robinson says she couldnB次元官网网址檛 leave out the years leading up to 1912.
B次元官网网址淚 couldnB次元官网网址檛 do that, because you have to build your stories through the past, and thatB次元官网网址檚 what I have done,B次元官网网址� says Robinson, a volunteer at the Esquimalt archives and member of the Centennial Celebrations select committee. B次元官网网址淚t just overlaps and flows into everything.B次元官网网址�
Though detailed, the book B次元官网网址渋s not the definitive history on Esquimalt. It is stories (drawn from) the history of Esquimalt,B次元官网网址� she says.
Robinson, author of Streets and Roads, A History (1995), put some little-known aspects of EsquimaltB次元官网网址檚 past in the new book, including details about garden nurseries in the township.
B次元官网网址淚 think, on the scheme of things across the country, that our history is the most unique of any other place in Canada. I canB次元官网网址檛 think of any other place that was entirely expropriated by the government, and didnB次元官网网址檛 get absorbed into something else, or disappear completely.B次元官网网址�
SheB次元官网网址檚 referring to the expropriation of the village of Esquimalt in 1941, when families and businesses were forced to move from where HMC Dockyard is today.
It offers a lesson in resiliency.
B次元官网网址淭he families of some of those dockyard inhabitants are still here,B次元官网网址� Robinson says.
She will be selling the book inside the Archie Browning Sports Centre during the community fair this weekend.
The book costs $30, and proceeds from sales will help fund centennial celebrations. The literary work can also be purchased at the municipal hall, 1229 Esquimalt Rd., and the archives, at 1149A Esquimalt Rd.
emccracken@vicnews.com
