Today is RETROactive’s 1st birthday!
We want YOU to help us celebrate!
Please, no birthday cakes or flowers … but presents of the “feedback” variety are greatly appreciated. We want you, our dedicated followers, to tell us what you think about RETROactive/Alberta’s historic places. This is your opportunity to:
- suggest ideas for a blog post;
- ask a question about heritage conservation;
- tell us about a memorable visit to a historic place in Alberta;
- share a photo of your favourite historic place in Alberta; and/or
- tell us what you think about RETROactive.
Everyone who submits feedback will have their names entered to win a 2012 Family Annual Pass (with unlimited admission) to visit all of Alberta’s Provincial Historic Sites, interpretive centres and museums.
How can I share my feedback?
Submit a comment at the end of this post, write on our Facebook page, Tweet something to @ABhistoricplace or send an email to: albertahistoricplaces@gov.ab.ca.
When will the winner be selected?
All names associated with feedback received by 08:30MT, February 27, 2012 will be entered to win the Annual Pass. The winner will then be contacted to arrange for delivery of the Pass.
On behalf of staff of the Historic Places Stewardship Section (a.k.a. RETROactive Authors), we would like to thank you for your support and continued interest in the conservation of heritage AND in creating a future for Alberta’s historic places!
Written by: Brenda Manweiler, Municipal Heritage Services Officer
RETROactive 
I know there is a lot of information about heritage sites that has been prepared by Alberta Historic Resources — however, most people I talk with about Alberta history and historical sites, do not seem to know that there are so many sites, nor where they are. Perhaps more radio and TV marketing about the department and the sites would be helpful. The word about the number and excitement of Alberta historical sites needs to get out. Happy Birthday! And thanks for all your leadership and communication.
I have a thing for ghost towns and Alberta’s rural areas are flush with them! It means I always have something to do on the weekend.
One of my favourites is Rowley and here’s an abandoned shack at the end of the lane in that town:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/exploreab/5077458460/in/set-72157625953252245
And here’s where I wrote about one of my recent trips:
http://thatangela.ca/2012/02/on-deadline/
By the way, love this blog …
I most certainly have been enjoying reading about the various places in the province — some I was well aware of, some I had false information about, and others that have been added to my map as places “for future visits”.
One of my recent visits was to check out the old general store and gas pump in Kirkcaldy. I didn’t know it at the time but my family had a personal connection to that store — I found out from my uncle that his father-in-law bought one of the first TV sets that the store ever sold. I had no idea anyone in my family even knew where Kirkcaldy was!
http://www.danocan.com/blog/2012/2/13/a-portal-to-the-past.html
As for suggestions? I’m a fan of old schoolhouses and so I’d love to be able to get more details around the ones that are still around so I could get out and get photographs of them before they disappear.
Congratulations on your first year!
Dan, Thanks for the kind words, we do try to make more of Alberta’s history accessible and it is gratifying to hear that people are enjoying our work.
As for one-room schools; they are indeed a fast disappearing resource. However there are still some out there to be found… A few of the designated as Historic Resources, including:
Shilo School: https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Search.aspx?DeptID=1&st=shilo.
Fertile Forest School: https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-0647
Roland School: https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4664-0246
Verdun School: https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-0777
One source I would recommend for finding more of them, or at least where they used to be located, is William Baergen’s “Pioneering with a Piece of Chalk: The One-room Country Schools of Alberta, 1885-1982,” published in 2005. This book (which is massive) contains locational information for rural schools along with some photographs and histories/anecdotes about many schools. I don’t know if it is still being distributed, but it is available in full text from http://www.ourroots.ca.
There are a number of other resources out there. One notable one is being done in Vulcan County. They have a website/blog at http://vulcancountyhistory.com/category/schools/.
Also, I know at one point the Alberta Teachers’ Association Magazine had a recurring feature about rural schools that featured current photographs of them. I don’t know if they still run this feature, but you may be able to get some back issues.
Good luck and have fun. We would love to see some of the photographs that may result from your explorations.
Ron Kelland
I’m new to Alberta – less than a year- so this blog has introduced me to some interesting historic sites outside of my imediate area. This has been really beneficial to me to know what else is out there and to understand more of the history of all parts of Alberta and not just mu community. Keep up the good work.
We visited the Glenbow … we are from NB … Great place, and so good to see some resources put into preserving, protecting and explaining the heritage of this great country.
I have been looking forward to visiting the dinosaurs at Drumheller since my wife mentioned it. Unfortunately, they open partially open in the winter and we didn’t have time last time there. I heard from my wife who was born and raised in Alberta that it is a must visit for both residents and visitors to AB.
I love this site! Very informative!
I would so much like to take my daughter to “the steffanson house”??? probably spelt wrong, i know. any how we are one of the first Icelntic settlers, from Gimley,MB. we would like to see our history home here in Alberta? and find more places to see about iceland people. our Uma is 94 now, and has dimensia real bad. so we will have to search on our own, now. also like this page, retroactive! it is cool.
I am so excited about this blog! I love to travel around Alberta every summer. We always visit the tyrell museum, atlas coal mine, stephenson house. SO MANY places to go! I am looking forward to going places I have never gone before 🙂
My family and I are faithful Alberta stay-cationers and campers. We love to visit the Fort Whoop Up in Lethbridge with our kids, and also love to visit Frank Slide. There are quite a few places we have yet to see, and being a bred and born Albertan, I am embarrased to say I have yet to ever visit Drumheller, though my husband and both of my kids have been!! It is definitely on my list! There is so much to do, visit and be proud of right in our own backyard!
We took the girls to the Tyrell in Drumheller. They were amazed and loved the displays. I sat on the floor by the T-rex and took a picture from an angle that looked like it was about to eat the kids. Tons of fun
I love places like the Royal Tyrell and Fort Edmonton as adventures for me and my family. On any given weekend, you can find us roaming the province looking for each of these little gems. The drive is great for spending time with our kids and reconnecting as a family we are so busy all the time and we know that it won’t be long before the kids won’t want to do these weekend drives with their old parents. The time at each destination is a great educational opportunity for them to teach them the history of the province around them.
I think our favorite so far was the Royal Tyrell Museum. The kids LOVED all the different exhibits and were completely thrilled when they got to cast their own fossils and bring them home, especially the daughter that did a cast of Black Beauty’s tooth and she realized that it was a tooth from a dinosaur in the exhibit. She was over the moon!! Even a year later, they still tell people how they cast the fossils and all the neat dinosaur facts that they learned.
I’d love to see posts on Lille, Bellevue or Rosebud as I’ve recently found out about family connections to these early settlements. Other than that, keep doing what you’re doing! As a travel writer interested in history, I love reading about Alberta places from a historian’s perspective.
There are so many wonderful historic sites in Alberta, it’s difficult to choose a favourite! My husband and I took a drive down the Victoria Trail last fall – wow, what a journey, and we saw maybe two other vehicles the whole time. Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump is a great site to tour as well.
I really like this blog. It has given us many ideas for quick roadtrips and exploring opportunites! Of course my boys love Drumheller and all of the prehistoric history but I love praries elevators, school houses and ghost towns!
We are Albertans and love travelling Alberta’s diverse ecosystem. Two years ago, we visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum with our children. It was their first trip there, and they can’t wait to visit again!
Living in Longview, we’re so lucky to have the Bar U nearby. It’s great to visit and just about every weekend is something different with lots of varied activities and the absolute most friendly staff not to mention wonderful food at the info center in the main building. Definately a stop over place for anyone travelling down Highway 22.
So do a few stops in Longview, and then make the Bar u a day long stop to learn about our heritage from the best of the best 🙂
I love being able to do trips in Alberta, close to home, and affordable. This site is very helpful in finding things to do. Trips to historic sites bring families together and provide an eductation at the same time as being fun : )
I would love to be able to take my family to all the different spots, we only moved to Alberta in January and have not had the chance to go around to check out all of the sights !! Very excited to be able to start doing it soon…
We love to take our children to lots of historic places and musuems. Last summer we visited Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump and my children were very taken in by the events that happened there. Our whole family was impressed with the layout of the musuem and all we learned about how the natives ran the buffalo from the cliff. Also our family love the Tyrell Musuem we visit there as much as possible as our son is determined to be a palentologist and he is 6, we want to nuture that and this museum keeps his interest alive ans we love the area!
I love that Alberta has such rich historic sites, and even just driving down the road you can find so much history in such a beautiful place.
The information has been so greet in planning my trip to Alberta this summer
I would love to visit all of Alberta’s historic places with my kids. We visited Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump a couple years ago and my 9 year old still talks about the things we learned there that day. We have a very rich history in this province.
Visit Alberta Historic sites often. So interesting! A great placee to meet people from all over the world too. Although not a registerd historic site I did a two day dig at Bodo at the Archaeological site last summer and that was a great experience.
I moved to Alberta over 10 years ago and visiting the parks & historic sites was such a nice, friendly way to learn more about my new surroundings. I think what I noticed first and foremost is that the ‘attractions’ are world-class yet remain true to Alberta’s roots. Now that I have a family, we visit museums, parks and historic sites as a way to spend quality family time together — while learning! We decide on a site to visit, and then let ourselves explore along the way. I think a blog outlining each site as well as additional sites of interest would be fantastic! ie. We recently went to Drumheller for the Tyrell Museum, but stopped to have a look at the tallest dinosaur AND into Horseshoe Canyon.
Glad you are getting the word out on these Annual passes. After visiting the Glenbow, HeadSmashed, Fort WhoopUp, Tyrell, and finally Remington Carriage, it wasn’t till the very end of using our summer weekends for an Alberta staycation that we noticed the unlimited pass. Look forward to learning more.