Comox District Mountaineering Club cabin at Mt. Becher.

Upcoming Lecture Inventing a Playground and Fairyland The Forbidden Plateau in the Interwar Years Guest speaker: Jenny Clayton When: 7:00 pm, Thursday, October 16th Where: Courtenay and District Museum Admission: $6 per person; $5 for museum members. Advance tickets are recommended. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the Forbidden Plateau was home to trappers and prospectors and, during the First World War, a few draft evaders. By the 1930s, however, it had become a playground for tourists and local residents alike. This lecture will look at the invention and advertisement of the Forbidden Plateau as a landscape of adventure and its development as a destination for outdoor recreation. The plateau not only drew tourists, it was also popular with local residents, especially young people, who became leaders of the Comox District Mountaineering Club. Valley residents also integrated work with leisure on the plateau, by harvesting natural resources and by working as cooks, guides and packers. Clayton is currently researching the history of outdoor recreation in twentieth-century BC for a PhD degree at the University of Victoria where she has also taught courses in Canadian and BC history. Contact us to buy tickets »