Cumberland, British Columbia, is a charming village municipality located east of Perseverance Creek, near the east coast of central Vancouver Island. This Comox Valley community is nestled west of BC Highway 19 and is approximately 105 kilometres northwest of Nanaimo and 10 kilometres southwest of Courtenay.
The existence of coal in the Cumberland area was known to the First Nations long before J.W. Mackay discovered it in 1852. This discovery led Sam Cliffe to form a syndicate that staked claims on Perseverance Creek in 1869. The Union Coal Mining Co., named to honour the 1871 union of British Columbia with Canada, was established but ceased operations due to lack of funds. In 1887, Robert Dunsmuir bought the enterprise, incorporated the Union Colliery Co., and brought a sawmill to the mine area.
Coal production in Cumberland began in earnest in 1889, with production reaching 66,556 tons by 1892. By 1897, the mine was producing 700 to 1,000 tons per day and employed 600 men. In 1910, Sir William Mackenzie purchased all the Dunsmuir mines through his Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir). The colliery established a hydroelectric plant on the Puntledge River in 1912, which supplied the whole Comox Valley.
The company village was originally named Union after the Union Coal Company. In 1894, a new townsite of Cumberland was laid out with lots for sale. The principal avenues were named after places in Cumberland County, and in 1898, the Cumberland name was adopted for incorporation as a city. The hospital began in James Dunsmuir's former residence in 1895, and the Cumberland-Union Water-Works Company commenced piping water from Hamilton Creek in 1897.
In 1958, the community reincorporated as the Village of Cumberland. Over recent decades, Cumberland has become a significant destination for outdoor recreation, culture, and tourism. The village prepared the Economic Development Strategy 2018–2023 to address challenges. According to the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Cumberland had a population of 4,447 living in 1,840 of its 1,918 total private dwellings.
Coal Creek Historic Park, located about 1.2 kilometres west of Cumberland, was once a bustling Chinatown, with a population peaking at around 2,000. The area was also home to a Japanese hamlet, which was abandoned in 1942 during World War II. The 104-acre site encompassing the Chinese and Japanese settlements was gifted to the Village of Cumberland in 2002 by Weldwood (now called West Fraser Timber), and the present name, Coal Creek Historic Park, was adopted in 2008.
