The Hudson Bay Company-owned ship Norman Morison made three voyages (1850, 1851, 1853) from Great Britain to Victoria. The third voyage was the HBC’s first attempt to introduce settlers. It included many families who entered five-year indentured commitments to the HBC in […]
Mike Abe will start the program with a tour about the history of Japanese Victoria. Meet inside the main gate of the cemetery on Fairfield Road. This will be followed by the Obon ceremony at 3 PM. Obon is a […]
On September 30, 1890, the Vancouver World reported that Joan Dunsmuir had moved into her new $500,000 residence. Craigdarroch Castle’s scale and grandeur were unprecedented in Victoria, inspiring admiration for its craftsmanship while drawing attention to the wealth and power it so […]
This tour will highlight just a few of the many scandals and rumours about British Columbia’s first Socialist M.L.A., James Hurst Hawthornthwaite. One of the most significant politicians in B.C., he represented Nanaimo from 1901 to 1912 and Newcastle from […]
Emily Carr’s grave is one of the most visited at RBC. Every year, a team of OCS guides visits the graves of many people Emily knew. Emily herself (a.k.a. Molly Raher Newman) will delight us with readings about these people […]
Victoria’s history has been shaped by our island location. Shipping, ship-building, and all kinds of boats were central to life in early Victoria. This Labour Day weekend, celebrate classic boats in the Inner Harbour and then hear “salty tales” in the cemetery! […]
Today’s tour title is the name of award-winning author Kit Pearson’s novel about a fictitious meeting between Emily Carr and Kathleen O’Reilly on a beach one day in 1881, a day in which a comet appears. Kit is a frequent […]
From the 1850s to the early 1900s, 25 different bathing facilities in Victoria allowed users to satisfy their personal hygiene needs, cure their ailments, and enjoy recreation. One could find hot, warm, and cold-water baths, seawater, steam, aromatic, sulphur, medicated, […]
We often look back at the past as a time free of crime, where everyone went about their days in safety. This rosy view will be clouded by today’s tour. A team of storytellers will take us to graves of […]
Beginning with the Fraser River in 1858, gold rushes shaped BC economically, socially and physically. While most gold-rush prospectors, miners and business people were men, many women were also drawn to BC during these lively times—and not just in ways […]
Victoria’s story is not just about the gold rush and maritime tales — Victoria also has a rich agricultural heritage. Some early farmers were brought out by the Hudson's Bay Company; some stayed after the gold rush. The Old Cemeteries […]
From small beginnings in rural New York State in the 1840s, spiritualism went viral. By the 1860s, it was all the rage in Victoria and other places across the continent. Even Abraham Lincoln is said to have participated in seances at […]