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British Columbia history that informs readers while entertaining them.

Cowichan’s Old Stone (‘Butter’) Church

Its stained glass windows and doors long gone, the empty shrine of grey sandstone gazes sightlessly over the valley and bay below.

Well over a century has passed since Cowichan’s famous Old Stone, or ‘Butter’ Church hosted religious services within these silent walls.

Below, to the east, Cowichan Bay is shrouded in early morning mist and no sounds reach here from the road below.

To the right of the front door (until it was stolen), a plaque, dated 1966, told the church’s history in a single paragraph:

“This landmark was built in 1870 by Father Peter Rondeault, pioneer Oblate missionary to [the] Cowichan Indians [sic]. Helpers were paid through the sale of butter churned by the priest. It was abandoned in 1880 in favour of St. Ann’s at Tzouhalem. Restoration was a 1958 Centennial project of the Cowichan Indians, Native Sons of B.C. and Duncan area residents and firms.”

It was in the summer of 1858 that Rondeault, a 33-year-old native of Quebec, arrived in Fort Victoria. Fired with missionary zeal, he set out for Cowichan with a sack of flour, a gun and his breviary. According to Father Joseph J. Cyr of Duncan, Rondeault hiked to Brentwood Bay where he secured a canoe and paddled “from there to his destination [Comiaken], where there was no house, no furniture, no church, and often no food.

“Following long weeks of hard work he succeeded in building a log structure which served as a house and church.”

A farmer by necessity

Rondeault churned and sold unknown pounds of butter to pay the native labourers he’d set to work to build a sandstone church. Workers used a cannon ball which had been fired at neighbouring Mount Tzouhalem by one of Her Majesty’s gunboats during a police action some years before to break boulders into serviceable size.

Yet, within 10 years of completion, the Butter Church was abandoned, Father Rondeault having to build a frame church less than a mile away  because the Diocese wanted a church on church-owned land. This St. Ann’s, Tzouhalem was intended to be Rondeault’s third and last church but it burned to the ground within days of completion.

Three days later, the heroic missionary passed away at the age of 76 and his grave is within the shadow of the current, fourth St. Ann’s.

A plaque marking his grave read: “This tomb was erected by Walter Morley Tzouhalem as a tribute of love and gratitude to the memory of Rev. Father Rondeault.”

With the Butter Church’s abandonment the stained glass windows were re-installed in St. Paul’s Church, Fulford Harbour, Saltspring island, and the succeeding years and recurring vandalism have taken their toll on what has become the Cowichan Valley’s most historic structure and landmark.

I tell the full story of Father Rondeault and his beloved Butter Church in a forthcoming book on the Cowichan Valley’s heritage homes and buildings; it’s to be published next year.

Meanwhile, if you want to see some truly great photos of the Stone/Butter Church, check out www.toadhollowphoto.com for Scott and Laurie Johnson’s recent approach to this venerable subject, ‘The Ghostly Hallows.’ Scott refers to the old church as his “photography muse,” and having visited it so many times myself, I can well understand why.

What a tragedy that it’s being allowed to go to ruin.

Here’s the direct link to the Johnsons’ great photo essay on the Butter Church: http://www.toadhollowphotography.com/HDR-Imagery/Churches/Old-Stone-Butter-Church

15 Comments

  1. This is my favorite place to shoot here on Vancouver Island, TW, thank you so much for the kind mention in your post here! I really hope and wish that something good can come to this wonderful old church, and that it might have a second chapter in life to share with everyone. Here is a link to our “Stone Butter Church” gallery on our site.

    • Hi, Bill: Let me know if you get to see the windows from Fr. Rondeault’s second St. Ann’s Church. I’d like to see them myself. Just as well they didn’t go into the third St. A’s as it burned down.
      And, yes, Scott and Laurie at Toad Hollow Photography are doing some great things.
      I now it’s hard to keep a good man down, Bill, but do try to take it easy in this heat! –TW

  2. Wonderful pictures Tom, Do you know if any pprogress has been made on the whispers of restoring our beloved Butter Church? You know how to reach me and oh my have I got a twist in my family history to tell you about!

    Cheers
    Lois

    • Hi, Lois: The deteriorating state of the Butter Church is one of the great tragedies of the Cowichan Valley. It’s a treasure and it’s abused for reasons I’ll never understand. What an utter tragedy. –TWP

  3. Was here for a visit today, sad to see the Graffiti continues, and now a leaking roof since my last visit in the rainy season. Would be nice if the residents and businesses of the Cowichan Valley realized the significance of this structure.

    • David, the vandalized state of the Butter/Old Stone Church really is a tragedy. This is without doubt the most historic structure in the entire Cowichan Valley! The roof was replaced as a B.C. Centennial project in 1958; now it’s on its way to failing again because of the hole on the west side that’s letting in the rain…
      Ironically, it was a combined effort by the Native Sons of B.C. and Cowichan Tribes that led to the restoration project in 1958. But today Tribes, for whatever reason(s) doesn’t seem to want to see it protected let alone saved by repairs. What a damn shame. Thanks for dropping by. –TWP

  4. Hello. So much said on this Reverent and his Church! I am living in Port Alberni. My name is Lyne Cootes, And the reverend Rondeault would be my great great great great great Uncle. I was given a tree on my moms grandma side, and he is my ancestor. I am so interested to read about this man. I pray to God that he was indeed a good man, who did not abuse any First Nations in that area( you can imagine the fear of it I have). But by the sound of it he had a good understanding of bridging cultures and earning respect from the local tribe. I am now married into the Huuayath First Nations and have the deepest respect for their culture and connection to this land. Please keep in touch with me on this topic.

    • Hi, Lyne: So Fr. Rondeault is your great great great great great uncle!
      I understand your concern for his having been “a good man” in the light of all the grim news about abuse by priests in recent years. I can at least assure you that what information I’ve found on Fr. Rondeault has all been positive and I know he was highly respected by both the white and Indigenous communities.
      If you Google Toadhollow Photography, a local firm, you’ll see a great interior shot of Fr. Rondeault’s ‘Butter’ Church with Scott Johnson; he tells me the Old Stone Church is his “muse.” What a shame that it is being allowed to return to slow ruin after it was totally restored in 1958. It’s the Cowichan Valley’s oldest and most historically significant building.
      At least the windows were saved, for use in a church on Salt Spring island. –TW

      • Oh thats great news! Yes its been a real struggle for me to be okay with the whole discovery… I will certainly have to visit the church very soon, bring flowers and candles 🕯. Thank you so much for caring about this and maybe a fundraiser is in order for a new roof! I do Art so I could donate! Do you live there?

        • Hi again, Lyne: Cowichan Tribes owns the Old Stone Church and for reasons unknown to me seem to be content with the building’s slow ruin by weather and vandalism. That’s all I can say but it’s a damn shame. It’s on private property but I’ve been there many times and never had any problem with ‘trespassing’ so you can probably do so if you’re down this way.
          If nothing else, it also offers a great view of Cowichan Bay.

          • Yes I hear also bad stories about the church… rumors are that it is haunted and also cursed!? I hear that the Cowichan tribe felt cheated when the beautiful windows were taken away… that they felt cheated also because 10 years after being built it wasnt going to be used anymore because of its location. It sounds eerie. What do you know of these rumors? Is that why the tribe will just let it go back to the ground? That would make sens to me.

          • As for the Old Stone/Butter Church being haunted, I like to think it’s Father Rondeault staking his claim to HIS church, the one that he built with his own hands (with help) and by selling butter from his own cows. I still wish that Cowichan Tribes would recognize the church’s historical significance and at least stop further deterioration.
            Had a chat with a former curator of the Duncan Museum the other evening and she reminded me that Father Rondeault was so well respected that his funeral was one of the largest in the Valley’s history, with hundreds of mourners from both the white and Indigenous communities. Again, I stress, that I’ve never heard a single word against Fr. Rondeault as a person so I accept that he was a good man and try to honour him in my writing. Cheers, TW

  5. I am looking for a photograph of the Old Stone Butter Church to use in the next edition of the magazine for The Friends of HMS Trincomalee charity and came across the one on your site. Would you be happy for us to use it and credit it to whosoever?

    • Hi, Dr. Turner: For high quality photos of the Old Stone Church try
      Scott Johnson, Toad Hollow Photography, Duncan @
      Scott@ToadHollowPhotography.com
      You can see examples of his work, and shots of the church (one of which he uses on his business card) on his and wife Laurie’s website. I’m sure he will be pleased to assit you. Tell him I sent you. –TW

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

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