Mack Laing Nature Park

This is one of my favourite places these days. I feel such a strong connection with the land and it's story.

Mack Laing (1883-1982) was a passionate self-taught naturalist throughout his long life. Hard working and able to turn his hand to just about anything, Laing was a respected scientist, writer and artist. He made a living collecting birds and mammals for museums and private collections and published more than 700 nature articles in various magazines, as well as several books. Laing was also an avid photographer, and his excellent images provide an invaluable record of the past.

Laing moved to Comox in 1922, and purchased a prime piece of property along Comox Bay, where he built a house and established a nut farm. His first house, called “Baybrook” was later sold, and a second home known as “Shakesides”, was built in 1950. In 1973, Laing donated the house and property to the town of Comox, for people to enjoy and appreciate nature.

"Simplify, don’t waste the years struggling for things that are unimportant. Don’t burden yourself with possessions. Keep your needs and wants simple, and enjoy what you have. Don’t fritter away your life on non-essentials. Don’t enslave yourself for luxuries. A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can do without. Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. Live in the present, enjoy the present. Simplify your life. Be not simply good, be good for something."

Henry David Thoreau