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Billy’s Family Restaurant is located directly beside what was once the Vermilion Cave. Standing on property that was originally the Princeton Brewery, Billy’s (formerly known as the Village Kitchen Restaurant) was built shortly after the brewery was closed in 1961. Part of the original brewery wall can still be seen at the northern end of the parking lot. The old cave was situated where the highway now lies, just adjacent to the restaurant.
“Princeton’s historically famous Vermilion Cave, at the south end of the town, will be demolished to make way for the New Hope Road entrance. The cave was used as a refuge for storm and cold [Indegenious peoples of the Similkameen Valley]. For hundreds of Prospectors headed for the diggings, the cave was Princeton’s first hotel. Later, the cave was used as storage for the famous Princeton beer. It could hold 24 freight cartloads. There was a belief that the reason for the fine Princeton beer was the aging it received in the Old Cave.”
- Vancouver Sun, 1949.
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