Explore the real places in Basseterre that appear in Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Kitamaat Village, Douglas Channel, Monkey Beach, Kitimat Townsite, Kitimat Museum & Archives and 5 more.
Haisla Nation reserve — Lisamarie's home
Kitamaat Village is the heart of the novel. Lisamarie Hill grows up here as a wild, fighting, fishing tomboy, surrounded by her family: her parents Albert and Gladys, her grandmother Ma-ma-oo, and her brother Jimmy. It is here that she first sees ghosts and the spirit beings called b'gwus and the little men, and where the family gathers when Jimmy goes missing.
Kitamaat Village has been the home of the Haisla people for thousands of years. The Haisla Nation, whose name means 'dwellers downriver,' was relocated and consolidated at the mission site in the early 20th century and endured the effects of the Indian Act and residential schools.
Kitamaat Village remains the main community of the Haisla Nation, with a population of several hundred. It is a living community with a band office and a community hall, and visitors are asked to respect residents' privacy.
Fjord south of Kitimat — Lisamarie's speedboat journey
The present-day thread of the novel follows Lisamarie as she speeds in a boat down the frigid Douglas Channel toward Monkey Beach. She is searching for her missing brother Jimmy, who was lost at sea, and the journey is interwoven with her memories of childhood and loss. Along the way she is accompanied by omens and by the spirits of the dead.
Douglas Channel is a long natural fjord on the northern coast of British Columbia, running from Hecate Strait toward Kitimat. It has been a travel and fishing route for the Haisla and Gitga'at peoples for millennia.
The channel is used by fishing boats, kayakers, and large tankers heading to the Kitimat port. Its steep forested walls and wildlife, including whales, make it a popular boating destination.
Visit: Douglas Channel (park)
Remote shore on Douglas Channel — site of the sasquatch (b'gwus) sightings
Monkey Beach is the place where Lisamarie hopes to find Jimmy and where the b'gwus, the wild sasquatch-like man of Haisla belief, is said to appear. Lisamarie recalls sightings of it, and as a child hears from Ma-ma-oo and Uncle Mick about the creature. The beach is the climax of her journey and of the book's blend of grief and the supernatural.
The Haisla tell of b'gwus, the wild man of the woods, and the place name is rooted in local lore. The area along Douglas Channel has long been used for fishing and camping by the Haisla.
The beach is a remote stretch of coast reachable by boat from Kitimat. It is a destination for local campers and adventurers, and it is known to fans of the novel.
Visit: Monkey Beach (park)
District of Kitimat — modern aluminum town next to the reserve
Kitimat is the nearby company town where Lisamarie and her family shop, attend school and encounter the wider non-Native world. It is where Lisamarie goes to high school and experiences racism and the alienation of straddling two worlds. The town's aluminum smelter and industry figure in the family's livelihood and their struggles.
Kitimat was planned and built in the 1950s by Alcan to house workers at its new aluminum smelter. Its development transformed the Haisla homeland and brought Western industry to the region.
Kitimat is a town of roughly 8,000 people with shops, schools, and a hospital. It remains a major industrial hub, home to the Rio Tinto aluminum smelter and LNG projects.
Visit: Kitimat Museum & Archives (museum)
Haisla Boulevard — history of Kitimat and the Haisla
While the museum itself is not a scene in the novel, it preserves the history and culture that Ma-ma-oo and Uncle Mick strive to protect. It documents the Haisla traditions of storytelling, language and craft that are central to Lisamarie's heritage.
The museum was established in the 1960s to preserve the heritage of the Kitimat area. It holds Haisla artifacts alongside records of the settler town.
The museum displays Haisla cultural items and local history exhibits and runs an archive for researchers.
Visit: Kitimat Museum & Archives (museum)
Kitamaat Village shoreline — fishing boats and family boats
The waterfront is where the family's boats are tied, and where Lisamarie's father Albert and her uncle Mick work and fish. Lisamarie spends childhood days swimming and fishing here, and it is where her family waits and searches when Jimmy's boat fails to return.
The Haisla have fished these waters for generations, relying on salmon, eulachon and halibut. Commercial fishing became a major livelihood in the 20th century.
The docks still serve local fishermen and community boats. As part of an active reserve, it is not set up for tourism.
Kitlope Heritage Conservancy — Haisla ancestral valley
The Kitlope is part of the wild Haisla homeland that frames Lisamarie's world, a place of old-growth forest, spirit beings and traditional practice. Ma-ma-oo's stories of the land and its creatures underpin Lisamarie's sense of the supernatural.
The Kitlope is one of the largest intact coastal temperate rainforests in the world. It was protected in 1996 through the efforts of the Haisla Nation.
The Kitlope Heritage Conservancy is a protected area co-managed by the Haisla Nation, accessible only by boat or floatplane.
Kitamaat Village — gatherings, feasts and memorials
The community hall is where the Haisla gather for feasts and memorials. Ma-ma-oo and the elders uphold traditions of song and dance here, and the family comes together in grief and ceremony after Jimmy and other losses.
Feasts and potlatches were banned in Canada from 1885 to 1951, and the Haisla kept their practices alive in secret. The hall reflects the revival of those traditions.
The hall continues to host community events, feasts and cultural gatherings for Haisla members.
Kitimat industrial area — source of local jobs
The smelter represents the industrial world that surrounds the reserve and provides work for relatives like Lisamarie's father and others. Industrial pollution and the changing economy are part of the pressure on Haisla traditions in the novel.
Alcan began construction of the smelter in 1951 as part of a massive hydroelectric and aluminum project. It was later acquired by Rio Tinto.
The smelter is a major employer and was modernized in the 2010s. It is a private industrial site and is not open to casual visitors.
Kitamaat Village — mission history and Christian influence
The church reflects the Christian influence in the community, which sits alongside Ma-ma-oo's traditions in Lisamarie's family. Funerals and gatherings tied to Jimmy's loss and other deaths bring the two worlds together.
Methodist missionaries established a mission at Kitamaat in the 1890s, and the church played a central role in the community's change during the colonial period.
The church remains a community place of worship and is not a tourist site.
More by Eden Robinson: All Eden Robinson books