Gray Creek Hall
Location: Just south of the bridge over Gray Creek, look for the Hall road sign lakeside. Look for two signs on the Hall exterior.
N49°37.295 W116°47.353.
Note: The Hall is rented on occasion to private and community user groups. Please respect their privacy.
This log community Hall was built in the winter of 1912/13 from hand-hewn fire-killed cedar logs, on land regarded as useless by the fruit ranching settlers. Useless then, priceless now - the land is a legacy for today's community that values the beach and the view. The Hall has changed very little in its lifetime; a kitchen was added in the late 1920's, the cloakroom, stage and storage room in 1958. The Hall has been integral to the life of this community since the beginning and is still in regular use today.
Gray Creek School ran from 1914 to 1944. Picture a typical school day in the Hall. Lake levels fluctuated 20 feet before the dams were built. High water was always an exciting event for the students - maybe school would be canceled! Once the school was closed for two weeks when lake water washed out the front footings. The rocky beach came right up to the lake side of the Hall, and during recess games such as 'Ante I Over', the players on the lake side had to contend with piles of driftwood to stumble over.
Former student Tom Lymbery [Gray Creek General Store owner] remembers watching the SS Nasookin through the school windows as it rounded Cape Horn into the bay on its thrice daily ferry run to Gray Creek from Fraser's Landing (Balfour). Another former student Johnny Oliver was paid 50 cents per month in the 1930s to light the woodstove and sweep the floor before school started. The blackboards are still mounted at the north end of the Hall.