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Dan Sewell Sr., Pioneer Resident |
| Dan Sewell Sr., first of Horseshoe Bay's four generations of Sewell's, was born in London, England and came to Canada in 1903 and ran his own construction company in Edmonton.
World War I came along and Dan left for overseas with the 63rd Battalion in 1914. After the war times were tough in Edmonton, and through a friend Dan heard of remote Horseshoe Bay and the fabulous fishing it had to offer, so he jumped a rail car to Vancouver to have a look. It was love at first sight. His imagination was caught by the magnificence of Howe Sound, and the possibilities of creating a life and legacy for his family in this small, undiscovered piece of paradise. |
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| In 1927 Dan came back with his family to picnic on the beach and fish in the bay. During this time he met Herb Thorpe, one of the few and first settlers of the undeveloped area. Over the next few years, and during many conversations around Herb's kitchen table, Dan's dream started to take shape. With a handshake deal, he purchased a piece of waterfront property from his friend and moved with his wife Eva, two sons Art and Tom, and in 1931became a pioneer resident of the newly formed community of Horseshoe Bay. |
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| It was just a collection of summer cottages then, and the only way to get there was to take Marine Drive. The Bay was already a favourite weekend spot for campers, picnickers and fishermen. In winter Horseshoe Bay rolled up it's sidewalks and just a few pioneer families lived there year-round. |
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| Also sitting on the waterfront property Herb Thorpe had sold to Dan Sewell, was a summer house originally owned by the well-known Roedde family, printers from Vancouver. When Sewell's aquired the property there was a large building which originally sat where Troll's Restaurant now stands. The building had been jacked up on logs and rolled down Bay Street onto the property some years prior. Without further ado, Dan moved his family into the home and renovated the building into Whytecliff Lodge. It offered visitors accomodations upstairs, a dining room catered by Eva Sewell on the main floor and the convenience of a store. |
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