Among Deep Cove’s first settlers were John and Rhoda Moore, who moved to the area with their five children in 1919. Later, they would have two more children, among the first to be born in the area. John Moore had spent 20 years in the wilderness in northern B.C. before he married Rhoda, so he was well equipped to handle pioneer life in Deep Cove.
He and Rhoda, who was 20 years his junior, and their children lived in Vancouver where John worked on the waterfront. Unemployment was high and one day, Moore decided to move his family to the remote Deepwater area. He came home one evening and announced over the supper table that the family was about to embark on a new adventure.
“We were living in Vancouver at that time at Campbell and Hastings,” said John Moore Jr., “Unknown to the family, my father went to North Vancouver and bought two lots in Deep Cove at Burns and Second. He paid $15 each for these lots. One day at the dinner table he told mother we were going to move to Deep Cove.” The Moores rowed across from the B.C. Sugar Refinery to Deep Cove and arrived at the lots which were surrounded by wilderness. Then they rowed back home and discussed their future plans.
The Society acknowledges that the land of the Seymour Communities is the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We continue to learn and celebrate the culture, history, stories, and people of the Tsleil-Waututh.
