From 7th Ave in the Castlegar town center a suspension bridge leads to an island at the mouth of the Kootenay River, on which will be found Zuckerberg Island Heritage Park. In this park lies Chapel House, erected in the style of a Russian church and the house and studio of the Russian emigré mathematics teacher, engineer and sculpto.r Alexander F. Zuckerberg. He came to Castlegar to teach in 1931 at the request of the then leader of the Doukhobors, Pjotr Verigin II. Zuckerberg died in 1961 and the island started to become overgrown. However, the town council took it over in the early 1980s and the buildings were restored and it eventually became Zuckerberg Island Heritage Park.
Today walkways lead through the sparse woods along the river bank. Traces of Indian mud-huts and a small reconstruction serve as a reminder that for at least 3500 years the island served as winter quarters for Salish Indians living in the Kootenay region. It is thought that they built a sort of weir or dyke out of large stones from the river in order to catch salmon as they swam upstream. However, since the first dam was built across the Columbia in 1934 there have been no more salmon in the river.
A car-ferry runs from Castlegar across the Columbia River, which is not very wide here, to Robson Trail - there are Trail Rides to be had at Dry Creek Ranch - and further to the Syringa Creek Provincial Park 19 km / 12 mi north of Castlegar on the eastern shores of Arrow Lake. The park offers a beach, windsurfing and fishing, and there are guided natural history tours from mid-June to Labor Day.
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