This month, we celebrate Henry Nolla and his legacy of art and craftsmanship. A master welder, blacksmith, and carpenter, he would go on to become our first resident artisan and artist.

Long before the Inn existed, Henry was already part of our family's story.

In 1978, my father set out to build our family's off-grid cabin. Our longtime contractor, Don McGinnis, had been hesitant to take on the project given its particular logistics. That changed when he crossed paths with Henry, who also worked as a boatsman and was a problem solver of the first order. Nine years later, fire took the cabin, and Henry returned to help rebuild it in 1987.

When our vision for the Inn began to take shape, we as a family knew it called for Henry's hand-adzed work.

It lives in the western red cedar posts and beams throughout the property, as well as the rippled texture of the mantel above the fireplace in every guest room.

Henry also carved our totem pole, and it is his carvings on our yellow cedar entrance doors that greet you the moment you arrive.

That same craftsmanship extended into the tools Henry forged himself.

To shape the delicate carving under the wings of ravens and other figures on totem poles, he developed his own hook-shaped carving blades. As legend has it, the design was later licensed for wider distribution to the woodworking public.

His own hand-forged adze shaped much of his work as well, and that original tool now lives at the Henry Nolla Art Gallery, brought out from time to time to refresh the Inn's woodwork.

Henry's work became woven into the fabric of Tofino itself, found in the Village Green's "Welcome to Tofino" sign, carved alongside Roy Henry Vickers, the woodwork at Common Loaf Bake Shop, the Eagle Aerie Gallery, and even homes on Wickaninnish Island, just offshore from both the town and the Inn. He was integral to Tofino's carving community as well, and became a mentor to many West Coast wood carvers over the years.

It happens to be a milestone year for Vickers too, who turns eighty this year, alongside the fortieth anniversary of his gallery's opening in 1986.

Though Henry passed away in 2004, his legacy lives on at the carving shed he built beside our Beach Building, which remains a hub of activity to this day. On your next stroll down Chesterman Beach, we invite you to step inside to see the work of artists who learned from and alongside Henry, including "Feather" George Yearsley and Christen Dokk Smith.

His story remains very much a part of ours, and we look forward to sharing it with you on your next visit to the coast.

Warmly,
Charles

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