Heffley Lake Association creates website, shares history of area

The Heffley Lake Community Association (HLCA) has created a website to help share important information, events, contacts and history with the community.

Fergus Alexander, president of HLCA, said the association began thinking about creating a website in the past year.

“We appreciated that most newcomers to the area Google search first and we wanted an avenue to reach out to them about Heffley Lake,” said Alexander in an email to SPIN.

Currently, there are 103 parcels of land on the lake, most lots being for home ownership. Before the website, HLCA only had Facebook groups to reach residents of the area.

“Presently the website is a work in progress,” said Alexander. “We have initially included boating safety tips and recently added part one of the history of the lake.”

Alexander said in the future they hope to add more need-to-know information to the website, such as fire bans and thin ice warnings. He said it is also important to HLCA to include history on the website to share the origin of sites in the area.

“We have always had an informal history of Heffley Lake which was not available to all,” Alexander said. “We have two members that have expanded on the subject and now it is more complete. The subject is significant to our members and we wanted to share with all.”

The first chapter of the history explains how Heffley Lake came to be named. Originally called Bourdignon Creek, and then later Edwards Creek, Heffley Lake was officially named after Adam Heffley. 

The website says that Heffley came to British Columbia as a mining prospector in 1865, but died suddenly from a heart attack in 1872. Alongside the establishment of the post office in 1905, the area, creek and lake were officially renamed to Heffley.

The first chapter also discusses the naming and history of other creeks and springs in the area. Alexander said the second chapter is currently in the works.