Latest News
Stuffed Stuff: Elasmo Stuffies
The Courtenay and District Museum is well known for many things: terrific science camps, fossil tours, eye opening exhibits, and a great archival collection. But there is one feature in particular that tends to take centre stage: the Elasmosaur. So it probably comes as no surprise that there would be some sort of squishy and huggable replica sold at the gift shop. Hand crafted with love, museum staff have collaborated to create completely unique plush Elasmosaurs for you to buy and enjoy. Just $16 each (plus taxes) and you’ve got your very own souvenir!
Family Fun!
This summer's Fossil Tours are as popular as ever attracting visitors from far and wide. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn and have fun in the great outdoors. Click Here for More Details
Canadian Letters and Images Project
Interested in reading about the past through the words of the people who actually lived it? A website you may not be aware of is the Canadian Letters and Images Project headed by history professor Dr. Stephen Davies at Vancouver Island University. The website describes the project as "an online archive of the Canadian war experience, from any war, as told through the letters and images of Canadians themselves...". Click here to Visit
It’s All There in Black and White: Crime and Punishment
Comox Valley crime and punishment courtesy of the Comox District Free Press of August 12, 1937.
About Garry Oaks
Many people in the Comox Valley are familiar with the stands of Garry oaks that we see north of Courtenay, but did you know that Garry oaks, Quercus garryana, were part of an extensive hardwood forest in BC before the last ice age? Garry oak was named by botanist and explorer, David Douglas, for Nicholas Garry (1782-1856) who served as deputy-governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1822-1835. Here's more information on these beautiful trees: The Government of BC Guide Canada's Historic Places page on the Tsolum Stand About Nicholas Garry
July Gift Shop News
We have a ton of new items in the museum gift shop! Our newly designed T-shirts have been flying off the racks. We are one of the few stores in the Comox Valley that has T-shirts with "Courtenay" on them. Another new addition to our stock are the fabulous wooden bangles with colourful First Nations' designs. The 1 ½ inch bangles sell for $15 and the ¾ inch for $10 each. We have also just received a shipment of the 35th Anniversary Edition of Now You're Logging! by Bus Griffiths. This really amazing book is great for anyone interested in logging history or folk [...]
Over 500 for Canada Day
Balloons, kids, Ducky Five Hundred participants, parade watchers and inquisitive people from all parts of the globe filled the Courtenay and District Museum to the brim and over on Canada Day. Whether people visited out of curiosity about the fabulous new exhibits, or because they needed some cool air and a great place to be, staff and volunteers greeted people with door prizes, terrific music from the Wire Choir and loads of Canada Day crafts for young people. Happy 2013 Canada!
35th Anniversary Edition of Now You’re Logging! Just Published
Harbour Publishing has just produced the 35th Anniversary Edition of Now You're Logging! by Logger, Author, Artist, Bus Griffiths, who passed away on September 26, 2006. As one of Canada's most important chroniclers of logging history, he left a generous legacy, made even more accessible to future generations by the Griffiths family. In August, 2003, the Griffiths family, with generous support from the Truck Logger's Association, donated 125 original storyboards and sketches created by Bus for his book Now You're Logging!, along with the copyright, to the Courtenay and District Museum. With this third edition of Now You're Logging! the Board and Curatorial Staff [...]
Kids Discover! Summer Kids Camp
The CDM's Summer Day Camps for kids delve into discoveries through fun and educational activities, behind the scenes exploration and exciting field trips. During each three day camp, kids can learn all about how the Earth works, ancient prehistoric life forms and fossils and natural resources. Let your kids discover their passion for the natural world this summer at the Courtenay Museum! Click Here for Details
Gift Shop Update
The busy tourist season is starting and staff have ordered some fabulous new items for the shop. Neat new items for kids include: tubes and buckets of dinosaurs, t-rex wrist pets, Color and Go travel colouring books and binoculars. If you are looking for a gift, we have something for everyone. Three new items are beautiful etched glass bowls and plates designed by A.J. Salmon. These would make especially great gifts for weddings or anniversaries. We are now featuring the work of a local glass artist in the shop: Stephanie Gould. Her jewelry is kiln formed dichraic glass which brings out the most amazing [...]
Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway: Carloads
980.65.5Left to right: Tom Simms and Herb Venables CDM 980.65.3Left to right: Sam Watson, Herb Venables, Tom Simms, Scotty Johnson. Cars transporting cars. That would be railway boxcars transporting 4-wheeled automobiles. Over its long history the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway carried everything from mail to Christmas trees to livestock and more. In the case of these photographs, the year is 1924 and Model T cars for Corfield Motors Ltd. are being unloaded at the railway station. Some assembly required. You can learn more about the history of rail by visiting the Ties to Communities exhibit in our second floor gallery.
Before Television: Projectile Point from Goose Spit
What Happens When We Turn off the Remote Hamilton Mack Laing collected this beautifully crafted projectile point from his property, located near Goose Spit, in Comox. Laing, a respected naturalist and writer, settled in Comox in 1922 and completed building his home, Baybrook, in 1923. In Author and Historian, Richard Mackie's, book, Hamilton Mack Laing: Hunter-Naturalist, p. 87, he writes of Laing, "He had fallen in love with Comox. In October 1922, he bought the five-acre lot on Brooklyn Creek where he, [Percy] Taverner and [D. Alan] Sampson had camped all summer. At the age of thirty-nine he had found his home: he would [...]