July 17, 2011 | Tips from Travellers >
Smithers, Museums
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Have you taken part in the Smithers Culture Crawl yet? I worked my way through this self-guided tour and learned a lot about the history of Smithers!
First stop: I picked up my self-guided-tour-pamphlet at the BV Museum (corner of Main St & Hwy 16) and viewed the displays there before venturing out for the rest of the tour. Don't miss the exhibit about the household items that was invented by one of the ingenuous locals!
Next, I walked the one block over to Safeway, where I learned how our great recreational ski facilities came to be - love the retro ski suits! I then headed down Main St to Schimmels Fine Pastries to see the photos depicting the early Dutch settlers and the difficulties that faced our first farmers...and of course I couldn't help but enjoy a nice big apple turnover while I was there! Down the street in Hometown Furniture, I learned about our earliest Swiss settlers who arrived shortly before the previously mentioned Dutch settlers. After a quick hop over to the Old Church located at King St & 1st Ave to see the beautiful gardens (which are particularly lush this year thanks to all the rain!), I ventured over into the residential part of town to see a couple of the Aladdin Company "Kit Homes" that were built here in 1920. I've driven by these houses plenty of times without realizing the history behind them, so it was really neat to learn their story!
It was really neat learning about Smithers' history within the present downtown setting, and I sure couldn't complain about the chance to eat some tasty pastries along the way either! This is definitely a great tour to check out when you're in Smithers