It’s the May Long Weekend here in BC and for many that means getting the boat out of hibernation, pitching a tent for the first time this year, lazy days at the beach, and tuning into daytime TV and wondering what happened to Bob Barker. The long weekend is due to Monday being Victoria Day […]

I’m a big fan of Stanley Park — the park that hosts dozens of trails and pathways, not simply the paved and cemented Prospect Point lookout. As such, I’ve often wondered where the names for the trails originated. The other day I was poking around on the internet, as it is sometimes useful to do, […]

When Google launched Cities in 3D I asked readers what their favourite buildings were in Vancouver. Answers included the Marine Building and the Dominion Building, and since that time I’ve wanted to do a roundup of these historical pieces of Vancouver’s past. As there are actually too many to list (unless you read about them […]

The next stop on the Circle Farm Tour for my group this week was the Kilby Historic Site in Harrison Mills [Google Map]. Kilby was a bustling whistle stop destination home to thousands at its peak where Mr Acton Kilby ran the general store (1906), post office, hotel, and most elements you’d find in a […]

As we were taking a stroll down Dunsmuir Street in Cumberland this weekend, Keira was filling me in on all of the regional history. I realized that even though I’ve profiled the origins of street names in Vancouver, I have never mentioned Dunsmuir and the family’s impact around the province. Aside from the street traversing […]

Samuel Brighouse was one of the earliest settlers on Burrard Inlet (he was one of the Three Greenhorns) and in later years also had a farm on Lulu Island in Richmond.

Last night on the Vancouver Sun’s site I came across a list of “British Columbia’s Best: A quest to determine the most influential person in BC’s history.” In November 2008 a poll including hundreds of names was setup and the results were then revealed in early January 2009 (while we were away in Iowa). Photo […]

I’ve ramped up my history series lately including several little tidbits by request, which is always fun to research and scope out. This afternoon I was browsing VancouverHistory.ca (the ultimate source for archival facts, tales and anecdotes) and I decided to browse the “1909” section. Here’s a taste of what I found out about our […]

Continuing my History Tidbits series we’ll explore the history of the McBarge, as requested by @TylerIngram. The McBarge floated into town in 1986 when Vancouver hosted the world for Expo, which began in the spring of and ran until the fall. Commemorating Vancouver’s centennial, it was the last world’s fair in North America, “it is […]

A few weeks ago I was trying to come up with a