Barkerville renos underway

A new schoolhouse and barn renovations are underway in Barkerville.

The two capital projects at the national historic site received major help from industry and academia.

West Fraser Mills worked with several area lumber suppliers to provide materials, while the College of New Caledonia had a woodworking class at the Quesnel campus provide construction labour. They did much of the construction at the college and the components were moved to the town's main street this week for assembly.

The barn will store many of the historic artifacts, so it has to have the appropriate appearance for the Barkerville theme but also have the necessary environmental controls inside.

"Over the course of the 2013 season the Butterfield and Lowhee Barns on Barkerville's back street will be retrofitted and restored while the front street shell of the Barkerville School serves as storage for artifacts currently housed by the affected buildings," said Mindy Stroet, the resource development co-ordinator for the Barkerville Heritage Trust. "The interior of the Barkerville School is slated to be finished by May 2014, and the resulting structure will act as both an interpretive centre for early-20th century public school lessons, and more modern meeting facilities for conferences, retreats, and a variety of off-season group bookings."

Barkerville is open with its full slate of actors and merchants, educational programs and public activities until the end of September.