A community is a place and an idea.

Ocean Falls was a company town created in 1909 around a paper mill at the site of a seasonal Heiltsuk Nation village, near a small waterfall at the end of a Pacific Ocean fiord in British Columbia, today called Cousins Inlet.

In 1968, Crown Zellerbach Canada Limited, the mill and town’s owner, began the process of winding down their operation in Ocean Falls. The town’s population, almost 4,000 at its high point, began to shrink. The mill closed in 1972. The townsfolk, without a livelihood, left. The forest once again took over.

Even as they abandoned the townsite, as the industry that sustained it abandoned them, many former residents have never let go of the community. This website is an invitation to share memories of Ocean Falls and its place in the world with a larger public.

This map was created from a combination of historical sources. Each dot represents a photo, text, or video connected to that location. Created by Christopher Grabowski, Kathleen Flaherty and Kris Boyd