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Kootenay Rockies Things To Do

 
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Historic & Heritage Sites

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Historical insights and heritage sights.

Fort Steele Heritage Town
Delve into the dramatic history of the Kootenay Rockies. You can visit a restored 1890s pioneer boomtown, follow in the footsteps of turn-of-the-century hard-rock gold miners or silver prospectors, or witness the site where the "Last Spike" was struck in Canada's first transcontinental railway.

You can also go millions of year back in time to the Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park and view the world's finest Cambrian-aged fossils of soft-bodied marine organisms. Or travel back just a few thousand years to when the Lakes Band of Interior Salish peoples first built winter houses in the Columbia River Valley.









Zuckerberg Island Heritage Park



At Zuckerberg Island Heritage Park you'll travel at least 3,500 years back to when the Lakes Band of Interior Salish peoples first fished and built their winter pit houses. You can visit a reconstructed pit house on the island.

In more recent times, the explorer David Thompson canoed down the Columbia River past this island nearly 200 years ago. About 140 years later, Alexander Zuckerberg arrived from Russia to build his unique Russian Orthodox Chapel House. You can walk through the wonderfully restored chapel house today. Flora and fauna also surround you on the beautifully groomed trails with splendid views of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers.

Cross the 144-m (473-ft) suspension bridge that connects the island to the mainland to visit the Hiroshima Memorial, a peace garden built in 1985.

The park is located near downtown Castlegar .

A word or two on your visit:

  • Admission by donation
  • Approximate time required: 1-2 hours

> Zuckerberg Island website