Hans Lars Helgesen, the “Hardy Norseman,” purchased a parcel of land in Metchosin for US $2,000 in 1862.
The property was described as 180 acres, less 26 acres for rock and three acres for road, leaving 151 acres of arable land. In 1877 he built a large house, “Sherwood,” and planted Lombardy poplar trees on both sides of the drive from William Head Road.
The house burned in 1933, but the trees still march up what is now known as Lombard Drive.
These pictures show the view from the house over the fields and the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Mountains. Most of the land stayed within the family until the late 1990’s.
– Wendy Mitchell is president Metchosin Museum Society. A portion of the historical references contained above are from the book Footprints (1983). Mitchell can be reached at wendyncmitchell@shaw.ca.