Parsons House

Joshua Parsons and his family were among the original Terra Nova settlers, arriving around 1888. He used his carpentry skills to build this house and worked at the Terra Nova Cannery.

In 1909, this house was bought by a Japanese fisherman, Kyutaro Shimano, who immigrated here with his wife and child. The Shimanos, like the Koyanagis, were forced to leave in 1942 when people of Japanese descent were removed from communities along the coast and interned during World War II.

Well-known artists Ann Kipling and Leonard Epp moved into the house in 1967, attracted by the idea of getting back to the land.

Photo Credit: The Shimano family in the front yard of the Parsons house, early 1940s. City of Richmond Archives, Accession 2016 35