history

During a past Heritage Thursday, kids poured paint and played abstract art games. There’s one more session this summer. (Keagan Nagy, Pitt Meadows Museum/Special to The News)

Kids unlock their inner artist at Heritage Thursdays

Pitt Meadows Museum nears the end of its popular summer learning program

 

Members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) gathered for the Summer Faire event, hosted by the local branch called the Shire of Lionsdale, on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022 at Atchelitz Hall in Chilliwack. The event featured archery, thrown weapons, rapier fighting, armoured combat and the Bardic arts. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)

PHOTOS: Re-creating the past as folks step back 100s of years with Summer Faire in Chilliwack

Fraser Valley branch of Society for Creative Anachronism has members from Maple Ridge to Hope

 

Reid Graham (left to right) of the Manitoba Historic Resources Management Branch, Todd Kristensen of the Archaeological Survey of Alberta and Robin Woywitka of MacEwan University excavate an archeological dig in the Fort McMurray, Alta., area in a handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Brittany Romano **MANDATORY CREDIT**

‘Very early’: Scientists date when humans first came to Alberta’s oilsands region

First signs of people around Fort McMurray appear to be 11,000 to 13,000 years ago

 

A team of volunteers recently scoured clean some of the older gravestones at Maple Ridge Cemetery, and another working bee is planned for next month. Abby Lizee, Maple Ridge Museum/Special to The News)

Volunteers speak to meaningful work cleaning headstones

More welcome to help in preserving history at Maple Ridge Cemetery on Aug. 18

A team of volunteers recently scoured clean some of the older gravestones at Maple Ridge Cemetery, and another working bee is planned for next month. Abby Lizee, Maple Ridge Museum/Special to The News)
Life-long Maple Ridge resident Ernie Daykin, former city mayor, took a selfie outside Haney House museum as part of the Historic Places Days contest, while encouraging others to get out and explore the community’s rich heritage. (Special to The News)

Visit to local museums could pay dividends

Taking a selfie in front of a historic site in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows could net $1,000

Life-long Maple Ridge resident Ernie Daykin, former city mayor, took a selfie outside Haney House museum as part of the Historic Places Days contest, while encouraging others to get out and explore the community’s rich heritage. (Special to The News)
Nun cho ga, the mummified baby woolly mammoth shortly after discovery. (Yukon Government/Submitted)

Mummified baby woolly mammoth discovered in Yukon was likely weeks old when she died

Nun cho ga being preserved in freezer storage while next steps are determined

Nun cho ga, the mummified baby woolly mammoth shortly after discovery. (Yukon Government/Submitted)
COVID scuttled restoration plans for the caboose roof for some time, but with a contractor in place now, locomotive and history buffs – including museum director Shea Henry – are excited to see the 80-year-old CP Rail car repaired this season. (Kemone Moodley/Special to The News)

VIDEO: Contractor set to repair roof on Maple Ridge caboose

Hope is to see the top restored this season, then to build a cover to prevent future weather damage

  • Jul 13, 2022
COVID scuttled restoration plans for the caboose roof for some time, but with a contractor in place now, locomotive and history buffs – including museum director Shea Henry – are excited to see the 80-year-old CP Rail car repaired this season. (Kemone Moodley/Special to The News)
A cluster of small fishing boats and small transport vessels stacked up at the Haney Wharf during the 1920. (Maple Ridge Museum & Archives/Special to The News)

LOOKING BACK: Wharf puts the ‘port’ in Port Haney

Maple Ridge Museum’s director offers brief history of a landmark located on banks of the Fraser River

  • Jul 10, 2022
A cluster of small fishing boats and small transport vessels stacked up at the Haney Wharf during the 1920. (Maple Ridge Museum & Archives/Special to The News)
Museum staffers Camryn Page and Lily Austin try out the croquet set on the grass at Jim Hadgkiss Park, next to Maple Ridge Museum, in preparation for a day of croquet being hosted at Haney House this Sunday. (Special to The News)

Museum offers chance to dabble in croquet

Historic sport being revived on the grass in front of Haney House this Sunday, and through summer

Museum staffers Camryn Page and Lily Austin try out the croquet set on the grass at Jim Hadgkiss Park, next to Maple Ridge Museum, in preparation for a day of croquet being hosted at Haney House this Sunday. (Special to The News)
Even during COVID, teams of community volunteers donated their time to help clean and preserve the headstones at Maple Ridge Cemetery. That effort is getting underway again next week, and volunteers are needed. (Maple Ridge Museum & Archives/Special to The News)

Seeking volunteers for cemetery cleanup

Two days are set aside this coming week for headstone preservation in Maple Ridge

Even during COVID, teams of community volunteers donated their time to help clean and preserve the headstones at Maple Ridge Cemetery. That effort is getting underway again next week, and volunteers are needed. (Maple Ridge Museum & Archives/Special to The News)
Music on the Wharf resumes this coming Monday at the Port Haney Wharf at 7:30 a.m. (Special to The News)

Music on the Wharf returns to the riverside Monday

Maple Ridge Museum brings back the popular outdoor summer concert series

Music on the Wharf resumes this coming Monday at the Port Haney Wharf at 7:30 a.m. (Special to The News)
Nun cho ga, the mummified baby woolly mammoth shortly after discovery. (Yukon Government/Submitted)

Nearly complete, 30,000-year-old mummified baby woolly mammoth discovered in Yukon

Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin elders named the mummified mammoth Nun cho ga meaning “big baby animal.”

Nun cho ga, the mummified baby woolly mammoth shortly after discovery. (Yukon Government/Submitted)
(Vancouver archives)

Bowser plans birthday celebration for Mike, B.C.’s famous bartending dog

Pooch became a small-town Vancouver Island sensation in the ’30s and ’40s for his tavern exploits

(Vancouver archives)
The man in the photo is believed to be a “Johnny” based on the written note: “to Margaret, from Johnny.” (Justyn Atherley/Special to The Star)

‘To Margaret from Johnny’: Aldergrove man finds mystery photo in his attic

Local mystery adds to uptick in unsolved documents, says museum president

The man in the photo is believed to be a “Johnny” based on the written note: “to Margaret, from Johnny.” (Justyn Atherley/Special to The Star)
People walk up stairs to the entrance of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced June 22 they are stopping their $789-million plan to rebuild the ageing building, and sending things back to public consultation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Province cancels controversial $789M Royal BC Museum rebuild

Premier says public engagement will now determine the future of the ‘seismically unsafe’ building

People walk up stairs to the entrance of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced June 22 they are stopping their $789-million plan to rebuild the ageing building, and sending things back to public consultation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Dick Brown at 16. (Submitted photo)

Victoria man surprised to learn he authored 1966 note in B.C. beach time capsule

Letter found 56 years later by Rathtrevor Beach tourists

Dick Brown at 16. (Submitted photo)
Leah discovered a small glass cream bottle that contained a note written more than 50 years ago. (Submitted photo)

B.C. family discovers 56-year-old message in bottle on Vancouver Island beach

Buried treasure inadvertently dug out of 4-foot deep hole in sand

Leah discovered a small glass cream bottle that contained a note written more than 50 years ago. (Submitted photo)
Bertha Solderholm worked at her floor loom in the basement of her Webster’s Corners home in 1971. (Maple Ridge Museum & Archives No. #P01801/Special to The News)

LOOKING BACK: Treasured Finnish loom soon to be on display

A mid-summer event June 11 will feature this and other keepsakes representative of the culture

  • Jun 4, 2022
Bertha Solderholm worked at her floor loom in the basement of her Webster’s Corners home in 1971. (Maple Ridge Museum & Archives No. #P01801/Special to The News)
Pitt Meadows Museum has uncovered a century-old letter from a mourning sister to council of the day (circa 1917). Pte. Roland Thomson, previous councillor, was killed during the First World War. (Pitt Meadows Museum & Archives/Special to The News)

LOOKING BACK: Archives reveal more about lost war hero

Private Roland Thomson served, first at home in Pitt Meadows, then overseas in the First World War

  • May 15, 2022
Pitt Meadows Museum has uncovered a century-old letter from a mourning sister to council of the day (circa 1917). Pte. Roland Thomson, previous councillor, was killed during the First World War. (Pitt Meadows Museum & Archives/Special to The News)
Pharis and Jason Romero filmed their latest video with Rick Magnell in the historic 153 Mile Store. (Rick Magnell video capture)

VIDEO: Juno-award winning folk duo showcase B.C. history in new song

Video filmed in historic 153 Mile Store was the ‘perfect place’

Pharis and Jason Romero filmed their latest video with Rick Magnell in the historic 153 Mile Store. (Rick Magnell video capture)