Visitors to the Prince George region can travel back in time to see what a settler’s life was like at the turn of the last century.
All it takes is a drive 40 km north of the city to the Huble Homestead Historic Site.
“We have the original old house, which the Huble family built in 1912, plus some surrounding outbuildings,” says Nicole Krizmanich, Program Manager for the historic site.
There’s also a general store that stocks candy, treats, drinks, food items, and a selection of hand-made products from local artists and crafters.
“When guests come out to visit, they are given the opportunity to step back in time,” Krizmanich says.
Helping visitors make that trip are staff dressed in period clothing.
“The buildings and rooms are set up to look the way they would have when the Huble family was living there.”
The site is owned by the Regional District of Fraser Fort George and operated by the Huble Homestead Giscome Portage Heritage Society, which was created in 1984.
It’s a non-profit organization that employs staff on the site to welcome, during a regular year summer season, around 8,000 visitors.
Last year, due to COVID-19 public health restrictions, the historic site had to alter the way it hosted visitors.
With many of those restrictions still in place, Krizmanich says plans instituted last year will be used again this summer.
“For example, we took advantage of our site’s wide open, green spaces to set up self-guided activities for visitors,” Krizmanich adds. “They could either print out a worksheet and begin the activities when they arrived, or visit the general store on-site, check-in and get the information.”
Among the activities were a scavenger hunt, and a challenge to spot artifacts inside the buildings that didn’t belong to the era.
Remaining in place will be limits on the number of people allowed inside some of the buildings at one time.
“We are also going to have visitors pre-register for the live demonstrations so we can keep the numbers where they should be,” she says.
“We have developed a season-long schedule of self-led activities. Visitors will also have the option of purchasing tickets to take part in live heritage demonstrations during enhanced programming weekends.”
“It’s recommended that you check the historic site’s website before venturing out. As restrictions change, we anticipate evolving how we run things during the summer,” Krizmanich adds.
Huble Homestead Historic Site opens Saturday, May 22, and it will be open every day from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM until the Labour Day holiday in the first week of September. After that, the site will open on weekends until Thanksgiving.
For more information about Huble Homestead, its list of activities, hours, admission prices, and more, check out the website at hublehomestead.ca.
