Wellington - Nanaimo BC
N 49° 12.537 W 124° 01.280
10U E 425610 N 5451186
Like most of the towns located around Nanaimo, Wellington got it's start due to the discovery of coal.
Waymark Code: WM2P8H
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 11/29/2007
Views: 118
Wellington is located 8 KM Northwest of downtown Nanaimo and at one time was a separate community but now is encompassed within the city boundaries of Nanaimo. The 3 mines in the area produced 134,682 tonnes of coal from 1871 to 1873. When the mines closed in 1900, Welington became a virtual ghost town overnight as they residents moved their houses, businesses, and hotels southeast to create the town of Ladysmith.
VIA rail still has a stop on it's route from Victoria to Courtenay called Wellington and it's located about 300 meters across the highway near the intersection of Wellington and Shenton Roads.
As with most of these older Tourism markers, it's placed at a rest area. Even though the rest area was reworked during the twinning of the highway, the sign was kept here. You used to see these signs at several locations along the Island Highway but over time they have slowly disappeared due to highway work and lack of maintenance.
There are picnic tables here but no washroom facilities. There is also a small boat ramp for Long Lake, a popular swimming lake and one of only 2 lakes you can water ski on in Nanaimo.
This rest area is best entered heading North as there is no direct turn off heading South.
Type of Marker: Cultural
Type of Sign: British Columbia Tourism Sign
Describe the parking that is available nearby: There is a fair sized parking lot in front of the sign.
What Agency placed the marker?: Province of British Columiba in 1966
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