Location: North East of Hope, British Columbia, Canada

Population: About 1000.

Original Logging Camp:

logging_camp.jpg

Modern Day Brentwood:

brentwood.jpg

Brentwood

In the early twenty first century the area Brentwood exists was a small logging camp. The company which owned the logging rights to the area as well as the land where Brentwood would exist built three temporary building on the site: a kitchen, a storage / repair barn, and a bunk residence for the loggers. The logging operation lasted for many years, with a handful of the original loggers staying on site the entire time. Over time the camp, as well as the mountain area around them, felt like home to the loggers. The company eventually decided to shut down the camp when the market for wood began to decline. High tech advances in quickly growing wood in a lab had become cheap compared to running a logging operation in the mountains.

The loggers who had lived in the camp since its inception did not want to leave, so they offered to buy the land from the logging company. After some negotiations, the company sold them the land with the condition it would be permitted to continue using the existing logging road for any possible future work. They agreed, since the amount of logging in the future was inevitably going to decline, leaving little chance of any large operations in the area. Especially since all the old growth had been cut down.

Small Steps

The loggers were not rich by any means. They had used their life saving to purchase the land, leaving them nothing to make any new buildings. They concluded they needed outside help, but had no idea who would be willing. After meeting with a handful of banks and being rejected for mortgages to build proper homes, they came up with a plan to create a wilderness retreat. They moved their personal belongings into the repair barn then converted the bunk building into a bare essentials residence for guests. They called the retreat Barewood, because everything was built from plain unfinished wood. The first years they offered wilderness tours along with fishing expeditions. They quickly gained a reputation as the best no frills place to go for a great outdoors vacation.

Growing Up

During their second year of business, a young businessman named Winston Brentwood stayed at the resort. he was very impressed with the way it was being run, and saw great potential in it. He offered to help the men on two conditions: The resort would be renamed to Brentwood Resort, and he would have one third ownership of the resort. Some of the men questioned whether they really needed to expand, since they were doing so well. But other knew the idea of a bare bones resort would either fade in popularity or be copied by other people. Either way they could not expect to always be on top. They accepted Brentwood's offer. He immediately began construction of a proper residence for the guests, living quarters for the men, and a small diner.

Over the next few years various businesses asked to build on the resorts site. The men didn't want to change the feel of the resort by adding outside businesses, so they usually turned them down. There were a couple exceptions: a small grocery store and a small hardware store were allowed to start operating on the site.

Brentwood eventually convinced the men they needed proper houses to live in, instead of bunk residences in the back of the repair shop. He built them each a small house a short walk away from the resort.

Feeling Like a Town

As time progressed, the resort continued brisk business, eventually requiring tour guides year round. Brentwood and the men decided they needed a place for the guests to be entertained while not out in the wilderness. So they had a building designed recreating an old nineteenth century town hall. the building was named Brentwood hall and would eventually become the meeting place and offices for the town of Brentwood. They soon realized that if they recreated an entire nineteenth century downtown area, they may be able to attract even more tourists. Brentwood's main street was designed with the town hall at one end and old time shops running down each side. The grocery and hardware stores moved to the new main street to share the space with the other vintage shops owned by the resort. Tourist eventually began asking if it were possible to buy a house in the area, but since Brentwood was not an actual town they were disappointed to find none.

Decline in Business

After more than ten years of growing bigger an economic slump hit the resort hard. The number of tourists had dropped to one third of what it had been the year before. Brentwood and the men knew if the trend continued, they would continue losing money and could be forced to close down. In an attempt to generate some money, they decided to give in to the requests and sell some of their land to people so they could build their own houses. During the first year they sold twenty seven lots of land, generating enough money to stop the losses. But now they had the problem of people living near the resort with no access to a proper stores or varied entertainment. They decided to allow the existing grocery and hardware store to expand, as well as adding a small theater to the down town area.

Too Much Work

Brentwood and the men were all tired of running what was turning into a small town. They were only interested in the resort, so they decided to work with the government of BC to turn Brentwood into a proper town. Most of the resorts land was sold off to individuals for homes. Many new shops opened in the downtown area. A schools and recreation facility were also built. The resort which had been just outside the down town area, was simplified and moved further into the mountains. Time passed, the town grew, the owners of the resort grew older and died. The men each left their share of the resort to their families, none of who were interested in running it. Each of them sold their share to the Brentwood family who had inherited Winston's share. As with the men's families, Winston's had no real interest in running the resort. They eventually closed it down after three years of barely making any money. The land where the resort existed has remained in the Brentwood family, who has built a large home on it.

Modern Brentwood

The Brentwood Jack lived in has little resemblance to the original resort, but the people of the town have retained the ish to keep life simple. Although the downtown area has modern shops, it still has a nineteen century feel to it. The town hall has remained largely unchanged, with the exception of having a modern computer system connecting the offices to Setnet. During the correction, the Lights destroyed the town with their overgrowth technology. When the Lights left Earth, many of Brentwood's citizens returned to recreate the town the way it was before the correction. They are determined to keep their lives simple, even with all the advanced technology of the Lights available to them.

cities/brentwood.txt · Last modified: 2016/04/28 23:13 (external edit)
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