The Olha School and McNarry house at the Prairie Mountain Museum.

Peer into the past with a museum tour

The Shoal Lake-Strathclair area is ideal for a history-focused day trip

If you are interested in exploring some of Manitoba’s museums, plan a trip to the Shoal Lake-Strathclair area. There are at least three in this area well worth a visit. The largest is the Prairie Mountain Regional Museum along Highway 16, about five kilometres east of Shoal Lake. Construction at the site began after 1997,


Gordon Goldsborough poses with the recently released third book in his Abandoned Manitoba series.  

Teasing out the echoes of Manitoba’s abandoned places

Author kicks off 'Abandoned' book, highlights local history

There are a lot of places in Manitoba that fit the definition of “abandoned.” There’s Smokey’s Tree Stump, a 10-foot-wide concrete sculpture sitting at the side of the TransCanada Highway east of Richer. There are rusting derelicts of Red River Cruise ships. Along the Assiniboine River, there are remnants of Hudson’s Bay Company trading posts.

Members of the North Norfolk Rural Cairn Committee hope the fundraiser will top up their site maintenance fund.

Hanging onto the history of one-room schools

Calendar fundraiser spotlights historical school sites around Austin, MacGregor and Sidney

They’re found along the highways and back roads of Manitoba: pillars of stone and mortar or boulders, each fronted by a metal plate inlaid with text. If it’s one of the more travelled sites, there might be a parking area or flagpole. In many cases, that’s all that is left of rural schoolhouses that used to dot the Prairies,

The entry gate of the Fort Dauphin Museum.

From prehistory to pioneers, Fort Dauphin has it

Sightseeing: The displays at Fort Dauphin Museum span the historical spectrum

Those interested in getting a peak into Manitoba’s past may find Fort Dauphin Museum worth a visit. The facility, which covers settlers in Manitoba’s Parkland and the Métis community, fur traders and the region’s earlier Aboriginal history spanning 8,000 years, is on the west side of Dauphin, not far from the Vermillion River. Why it


Canola pioneer Baldur Stefannson is a prominent figure in the book.

Free farm history e-book launches

150 Years of Farming in Manitoba tells the stories of the province’s many ag sectors with plenty of fun facts

A free e-book telling the story of the past 150 years of Manitoban agriculture launched earlier this month. “Our province was founded on agriculture and this e-book provides an important opportunity for our agricultural producers to showcase their ongoing dedication to a safe and reliable food supply,” said provincial ag minister Derek Johnson in a

A sign marks the entrance to the homestead.

A heritage homestead and our last river ferry

Take the back roads to the Criddle-Vane homestead and make time for a short crossing at Stockton

For a day trip that takes you back to an earlier time, try a drive to the Criddle-Vane Homestead Provincial Park south of Shilo. And be sure to make a side trip across the Assiniboine River on the Stockton Ferry, southern Manitoba’s last operating river ferry. Anyone interested in the province’s history would likely find

The museum features buildings representative of several eras and a typical early Prairie town main street.

A touch of history, close to home

Portage la Prairie’s Fort la Reine Museum gives a window to earlier times in the region

With museums now beginning to reopen, I decided this was the time for a long-planned visit to the Fort la Reine Museum in Portage la Prairie. Although only half an hour away from my home, this was my first visit and I certainly recommend it for anyone interested in Manitoba’s history. Fort la Reine Museum,


Red River cart built by Shoal Lake’s Ray Pettinger.

Shoal Lake citizen recreates a piece of history

Red River cart recreates an important piece of Manitoba’s early transportation history

Before the coming of the railroad and the construction of roads, the two-wheeled “Red River cart” was the main method of land transportation in what was to become Manitoba.  Due to the history and importance of such carts passing through the area, Ray Pettinger, a Shoal Lake senior with a passion for crafting turned his

Teamster Richard Grudeski of Vista broke trail while horseback riders followed close behind.

Season-ending trail ride offers special glimpse of national park

Riding Mountain Wranglers cap off year with trek to Whitewater PoW camp

Fall is a season of transition, a reminder of the value of change, in this case from bright, buzzing, verdant summer toward the dark, quiet calm of winter.  The journey can be experiential and intellectual, no matter the trip, but it’s more relaxing deep within a national park.  It’s not every day, an invitation is