After my first year of university, I was fortunate enough to apply for, and get, a co-op term placed in Barkerville. It's difficult for people who don't grow up in this area to understand how awesome Barkerville is. Barkerville is tremendously exciting when you're a kid and, I think, still magical as an adult. When we had visitors from out of town staying with us for a few days, my family always took the visitors to Barkerville and it was always a success. We took the town tour, walked to the Richfield courthouse, looked at the buildings, went to school, visited the Cornish waterwheel, bought sourdough bread at the Goldfields Bakery and shopped at the Candy Shop on the way out of town. It was always a busy and fun day.
The first summer that I worked in Barkerville is an important chapter in my life's story. I had my first apartment in Wells (red shag carpet and orange vinyl futon sofa), I met some of my best friends in Barkerville that summer and, most importantly, I met my husband that summer in 2001. He was an actor from Surrey working as one of the judges in Richfield and I was a shop-girl working for a non-profit society. The story of how we met is like the plot of an incredibly bizarre movie: "Small town girl meets big city boy in 19th century historic museum town and every interaction takes place in authentic costuming." As we're approaching our 7th year of marriage and our 12th year of being together, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish my husband a happy anniversary and to thank Barkerville for bringing us together.
A few weeks ago, my husband and I took my in-laws to Barkerville for the first time. We had limited time but we gave them the fastest tour of Barkerville that I have ever experienced. We all had fun and the next time they come up in the summer, we'll take them again for a longer visit. I think that it's weird that elsewhere in the province, not everyone has heard of Barkerville or knows the gold rush history of B.C. as well as we do in the North. My mother-in-law was expecting a large museum and didn't realize the extent of the historic site and how large and wonderful it is. Visit Barkerville this summer if you get the chance. You won't regret it.
