Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site (Free Steveston Guide)

Published 2026-07-13 · FanVancouver Travel Desk

Fifteen minutes on the waterfront boardwalk from Steveston's main wharf, Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site preserves a Japanese-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian boatbuilding community on tidal pilings — buildings that rise and fall with the Fraser River twice daily. Admission is free (2026); guided tours ~C$5–10 when scheduled. Allow 90 minutes.

Why buildings sit on stilts

The Fraser's 4 m tidal range flooded workshops twice a day — carpenters built on pilings so floors stayed above water at high tide. Net mending, boat repair and cannery support happened here from 1885 to the 1980s. Restoration keeps the pilings visible — you see the mud at low tide, water lapping at high.

Seine Net Loft — tools of the trade

The Seine Net Loft is a long wooden shed where fishermen hung and repaired seine nets — cork floats along the top, lead weights below. Displays explain how a single net could encircle a school of salmon. Smell of cedar and tar still lingers.

Murakami House — family story

The Murakami House (1929) was home to Asayo and Otokichi Murakami, who raised ten children while running a net-making business. Furnishings restored from family donations — radio, sewing table, children's homework desk. Interpretive panels cover internment and return after 1949.

Chinese Bunkhouse — the other half of the workforce

Chinese labourers slept in tight bunkrooms, sent remittances home, and faced head taxes historians now reckon at C$1.2 million in collective payments from this community alone. Sparse cots and trunks — contrast with the Murakami family home to understand hierarchy on the waterfront.

Japanese & European boatworks

Active-looking sheds with hand tools, half-finished models and a Brill trolley from the interurban line. Boat restoration volunteers work summer weekends — ask if you can watch steam-bending cedar planks.

Visitor practicalities

• Address: 5180 Westwater Dr, Richmond (adjacent to Steveston).
• Hours: typically 12:00–17:00 weekends year-round; extended summer weekdays — check richmond.ca.
• Cost: free self-guided; donations welcome.
• Combine: Steveston Village lunch, shipyards afternoon, Garry Point sunset.
• Wheelchair access limited on boardwalk sections — call ahead for mobility routing.

Richmond day: Japanese restaurants in central Richmond for dinner after.

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