The Silverworks

The Old Mill, reborn

For most of a century the Highwater Lumber Company sawmill— the Old Mill — was the engine of Silvermere. Logs came off the lake, the great saws ran dawn to dusk, and the whole town lived to the rhythm of its whistle. When the mill finally wound down, the question was whether to tear the hulk down or do something braver with it.

Silvermere chose braver. The vast timber-framed hall — old-growth posts thicker than a person, beams the length of a barge — was saved and reborn as The Silverworks: a covered market, a cluster of working studios, a taproom, a museum, and a lookout, all under the same roof that once sheltered the saws. It has become the kind of place a whole town circles back to — part market, part workshop, part memory.

The market hall

The heart of The Silverworks is the covered market hall, run down the long centre aisle of the old cutting floor. On market days it fills with growers, bakers, smokers and picklers, flower sellers, coffee roasters, and farmers off the highland benches above town. The light comes down through the high clerestory windows the sawyers worked by; the smell is bread and woodsmoke and fresh-cut cedar. It is, by common agreement, the best room in Silvermere.

Makers' studios in the timbers

Tucked into the bays and lofts around the hall are the makers' studios— working spaces, not just shops. A blacksmith and a knife-maker, a ceramicist, a weaver, a green-wood furniture maker, a jeweller working the local silver-grey themes, a print studio. Many keep their doors open so you can watch the work happen, then buy the thing straight off the bench. It is what gives The Silverworks its Granville-Island feel: a place that still makes things, in the building that always did.

The taproom

In the old engine bay, the Highwater Taproom brews with cold, clean mountain waterdrawn from the Silvercrest snowmelt that feeds Cedar Creek. The beer leans crisp and bright — the kind of thing you want after a climb up the headframe — and the long tables look straight out across the lake. Local makers' food and the market's own produce land on the boards.

The mining-and-lumber museum

The mining-and-lumber museumtells the two stories that built the town: the silver that came out of the Silvercrest Mountains, and the timber that came off the lake. Original mill machinery sits where it stood; there are headlamps and ore samples from the silver workings, photographs of the company town, and the tools of the sawyers and fallers. It's an honest, hands-close museum — the machines are the real ones, and on a quiet afternoon you can almost hear them run.

The headframe lookout

Rising over the site is the old silver-mine headframe— the tall timber-and-steel tower that once hoisted ore and miners up the shaft. It has been restabilised, and a stair climbs the inside of it to a lookout deckat the top. From there the whole valley opens up: Silver Lake below, mirror-still on a calm day, the Silvercrest Mountains all around, the rooftops of town, and the long roofline of the mill at your feet. On a cold, dark night the lake doubles everything — one valley above the water, one below.

The Old Mill Footbridge

The 1916 Old Mill Footbridgeis part of the site. Built by Highwater Lumber Company crews on their own time, with the mill's own cable and timber, it spans The Narrows where the lake pinches between the mountains. You can still walk it: a quiet, gently swaying crossing with the still water below and the ridges on either side. During the Lakelight Festival, the lantern parade crosses the footbridge — a river of light over black water, with the headframe lit behind.

Hours & visiting

• Market hall & grounds: open daily, free to wander. Market days draw the biggest crowds — see below.
• Market days: Saturdays year-round, plus Wednesday evenings in summer. Best in the morning for the fullest stalls.
• Museum & headframe lookout: open Wednesday to Sunday, with a small admission. The headframe climb closes in high wind or ice.
• Taproom & studios: most keep their own hours; many open Wednesday through Sunday and on every market day.
• The noon whistle sounds every day at twelve.

Events

The Silverworks is a working venue as well as a destination: maker fairs and craft markets, museum talks on the mining and lumber years, brewer's nights in the taproom, and live music under the old beams. In winter it anchors the downtown stretch of the Lakelight Festival, when the lantern parade crosses the footbridge and the headframe is lit against the dark. Watch the Events pagefor what's on.

Accessibility

The market hall, museum, and taproom are at grade with level access and accessible washrooms. The headframe lookout is reached by stairs and is not wheelchair accessible; a live view from the lookout camera plays in the museum so everyone can take in the valley. The heritage footbridge has an uneven historic deck. Call ahead at 250-555-0118with any access questions and we'll help you plan.