Claudia donates money for sign.
When local realtor Claudia Lajeunesse heard her friend Buryl Slack was looking for some help to erect a sign to mark the historic Haynes homestead site, she was only too happy to get involved.
Lajeunesse and Slack share a love of history and a dedication to recognizing and preserving it.
Slack's passion for the area's history led her to become a member of the Oliver/Osoyoos Branch of the Okanagan Historical Society, a volunteer committee to B.C. Parks. She has also co-chaired a committee dedicated to preserving the Haynes site, located at the junction of Road 22 and Black Sage Road.
Realizing although it would be impractical to restore the buildings (main house, bunk house and barn), the site could be preserved so that it would fall down gracefully.
One of the projects the committee hoped to accomplish was to have rails installed around the buildings to deter people from getting too close to the aging structures. This was completed late last summer.
Slack also hoped to have a large sign erected nearby that would explain the history and significance of the site, as the buildings are one of the attractions on a scenic winery tour.
The sign is now up, thanks to the generosity of Royal LePage realtor Claudia Lajeunesse.
Claudia and I ran into each other one day, and she asked me if I had had any response or offers to help with the signage, after the story ran in the Osoyoos Times last June. I said that I hadn't heard anything to that point, and she offered then to pay for the cost of a sign, Slack recalled.
At the time, Slack had no idea what the sign would cost, but said Lajeunesse was willing to offer $1,000.
In my line of work, I have driven a lot of people by the Haynes house and so many have asked me about it. It's nice now to have this sign here so that people can read up on some of the local history, said Lajeunesse.
Although we're moving forward with the future, we have to pay attention to the past, Lajeunesse said, drawing a comparison between the importance of the Haynes site to both the past and the present.
By preserving this site, not only are we preserving the heritage of the Haynes family, we are also now preserving an endangered eco-system and with that, our future.
Just as the Haynes were vital pioneers of the area, living off the land, their home is now giving back to the land by providing shelter to some of the area's vital species like rattlesnakes, black widow spiders and long-eared bats, Lajeunesse added.
Slack said she was grateful for Lajeunesse's donation and very pleased with the work done by Osoyoos Signs.
We appreciate her generous offer very much. And we also feel the project was worthwhile, given that the site is part of the wine tour.
I also want to credit the Oliver Heritage Society for allowing us to purchase a photographic copy of the Haynes home from their archives, she said.
The next project in the works is to enlist a stonemason to shore up the corners of the Haynes barn, and Slack said she hoped this would be happening sometime this spring.
