Green Point

Historically, Cowichan winter villages were located on Cowichan Bay as well as upstream on the banks of the Cowichan and Koksilah Rivers. On Cowichan Bay, there were four villages, two at the north end of the bay near the mouth of the Cowichan River and two at the south end close to the present day location of the town of Cowichan Bay. The northernmost village, xinepsem ('caught in the neck' or 'caught by the neck') was located at Green Point, at the mouth of the north arm of the Cowichan River. Edward Curtis visited the village in 1912 and reported the presence of nine houses with 15 families (Curtis 1913, 175) and noted that the village had been built in 1850. Rozen (1985, 150) reports that some Cowichan feel that the people living in the village on the northern tip of Galiano Island (which has the same name) moved to the Green Point site to escape raids by the Southern Kwakiutl. In terms of food gathering activities, the Green Point village was oriented more towards the sea than the river. (Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group website)