Latest News
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 [...]
Our YouTube Channel
Over the past several months this newsletter has linked readers to our YouTube videos created as part of the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) project. These videos were produced with Fox and Bee Media with funds from REDI and Community Futures Strathcona. If you’d like to see all the videos please visit our new YouTube channel.
Exhibit: Ties to Communities
CDM 2004.28.2102nd Battalion soldiers arrive via the E&N Railway to train at Goose Spit, 1915. Opening July 1, 2013 This new exhibit in our second floor gallery will touch on the tremendous influence of rail to the history and development of the Comox Valley from the late 1800s to mid-20th Century. The "ties" in the title reflects a play on words. Of course the actual railway physically connected people, settlements and industry. And a "tie" in railway terms historically refers to the wooden supports for the tracks which lay perpendicular to the metal rails. The exhibit is curated by museum staff and [...]
Racing Trophies on Display
Three horseracing trophies from 1934 will be on exhibit at the museum in time for our Canada Day Open House. The trophies were won by Mr. Bert Grieve and his horse American Motors at events in Nanaimo’s Old Home Week celebrations. The trophies haven’t all been together for many years. But thanks to a thoughtful loan from family members, the trophies, and the interesting story behind them, are together again to share with the community.
Summer Hours
Open Seven Days a Week The Courtenay and District Museum is now on its summer operating schedule and is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 5:00 and Sundays from 12:00 to 4:00 until Labour Day. As always, members visit free.
July 1st Open House
On Canada Day, drop by the Courtenay and District Museum after the parade and help celebrate our country’s birthday. There will be free admission, balloons and door prize draws between 12 noon and 4 pm. Special activities will include cupcake walks for all ages and a hands-on craft for kids. Musical entertainment will be provided by The Wire Choir. Check out the revamped palaeontology displays as well as the new exhibit Ties to Communities about the importance of transportation and industrial railways in the Comox Valley. Canada Day is a great chance to explore history at the museum. Discoveries happen here!
It’s All There in Black and White: First Annual Ball
Could this have been the Comox Valley's most exclusive club 100 years ago? According to this article from The Islander of June 14, 1913, "members...reserve the right to reject any application." Sounds like best behaviour and formally dressed only need apply.