The Village of Queen Charlotte, more commonly known by its residents as Charlotte, is a village municipality on Haida Gwaii in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southern end of Graham Island at Skidegate Inlet and is a member municipality of the North Coast Regional District. Queen Charlotte Islands date from 1787 when Captain George Dixon was on a trading cruise along the coast. Named for his two hundred-ton vessel, the Queen Charlotte. It was founded in 1891 and in 1908 was the first townsite registered in the islands although it wasn't incorporated as a municipality until 2005. was previously been represented as part of Electoral Area F of that regional district, which was coterminous with the Queen Charlotte Islands. The town site was established when the first sawmill in the archipelago began operating in 1908. In the wake of World War I, additional work force was needed to supply allied warplanes with lumber. The town infrastructure quickly developed, offering public education, a hospital, general stores and other amenities, even a newspaper. Logging and fishing were the main source of jobs in Queen Charlotte when the demand for lumber again increased by the second half of the 20th century. Today, few inhabitants are working in these resource-based jobs and a recent shift towards tourism-oriented employment has been observed, although the main economic driver is government jobs, including: hospital workers, school district, BC Ferries, local Forestry and Parks offices etc. Queen Charlotte was incorporated in 2005 and offers several motels, shops, restaurants, a gas station and auto repair, a credit union, RCMP station and a hospital. It is also the location of the Queen Charlotte Visitor Centre, which is open year-round. With its small harbour. Queen Charlotte is often the starting-point for chartered tours into Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site on southern Moresby Island. Queen Charlotte is just to Skidegate with its BC Ferries landing and connections to Prince Rupert.
