Hagensborg

Hagensborg lies within the beautiful Bella Coola Valley in the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast‘s Central Coast

Local hiking trails provide stunning vistas of the valley and Nusatsum Mountain from tiny Lost Lake’s picnic site. The well-marked wheelchair-accessible Saloompt Forest Trail has interpretive scenic views alongside the Bella Coola River, through an old-growth forest with picnic tables and benches. Bella Coola Airport, provides charters to local glaciers, fishing areas and other coastal destinations.

For information on this area see Bella Coola.

Location

Located 19.2 km (12 mi) east of the community of Bella Coola.

Step Back in Time

In 1894, Norwegian colonists journeyed from Minnesota to the Bella Coola Valley and founded the settlement of Hagensborg.  Long fjords snaking down to the sea reminded the settlers of their Norwegian homeland, and before long the region’s first non-native farming, lumber and fishing industries were up and running, followed by the town’s first school, which opened in a large communal tent in 1895.

Today, you can catch a glimpse of Hagensborg life in the 1800s by touring the town’s  Norwegian Heritage House or by visiting the valley’s visitor centre in Bella Coola. Built at the turn of the 20th century by settler Andrew Svisdahl, the site is a late-1800s time capsule furnished in traditional Norwegian fashion and displaying the household tools of more than a century ago.