|
|
|
|
CANADA
Across Canada with Via Rail Alberta Beef Alberta - Cypress Hills Alberta Dog Sledding Alberta's Edmonton Festivals Alberta - Edmonton Shopping British Columbia -Barkerville British Columbia - Royal BC Museum British Columbia - Vancouver and Victoria British Columbia - Victoria- Inn at Laurel Point British Columbia - Victoria - Spinnakers Manitoba's Beluga Whales Manitoba's Polar Bears North Western Aurora Nova Scotia Birding Nunavut Adventure Ontario - Toronto's CN Tower Ontario - Toronto's Fairmont Royal Hotel Prince Edward Island Kayaks Prince Edward Island Music Quebec City / Montreal Quebec City Quebec City Cuisine Saskatchewan VIA Rail's Fall Foliage Corridor VIA Rail's Scenic Canada Yukon - Dawson City  HOTEL FINDER BRITISH COLUMBIA HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in British Columbia, Canada here |
CANADA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - BARKERVILLE : THAT GOLD FEVER RUSH by Mike Currie 
Guests at the St George Hotel in Barkerville needn’t worry if they wake up in a cold sweat. They are probably suffering from a mild dose of gold fever.It can be a little disorienting to draw back the drapes of your bedroom window to be confronted with a gold rush town from the 1800’s, complete with boardwalks, a muddy main street, saloon bar and stagecoach. Take a look at the bedroom. There’s a four-poster bed, the small room is decorated with old-fashioned embossed wallpaper, antique furniture and a photograph of a lady who could be a guest’s great great-grandmother. Slip out into the narrow corridor and down the creaky wooden staircase. In the dining room, a maid whose frock balloons over a bustle lays out the table with Victorian crockery, the silence broken only by the slow tick-tock of an oak wall clock above a rocking chair. The tiny St George Hotel is a living museum, set in a gold rush town. For Barkerville, in British Columbia, is the pot at the end of the rainbow. This was where Billy Barker struck gold in 1862, and sparked Canada’s first big gold rush, long before the Klondike. Prospectors raced from what is now known as Vancouver, struggling up raging rivers and through hundreds of kilometres of inhospitable terrain infested by grizzlies, to reach this spot in search of their fortune. In its hey-day, Barkerville was the largest city north of San Francisco. Today it has been restored, and tourists flock here to pan for gold, watch dance-hall girls, drink in the old saloon, take stagecoach rides, and even pray in the wooden church. But most don’t get to walk the streets of Barkerville after dark. For then the town, which is uninhabited, closes to tourists, and an eerie silence descends over the historic buildings. Only guests who stay in the St George Hotel, which has seven bedrooms, and two small, historic bed and breakfast establishments nearby, have that privilege. When the sun goes down, they can become immersed in history by wandering the now empty streets, or take photographs after breakfast before the tourists are allowed in. The St George Hotel – which is believed to have once been a high-class brothel for prospectors who had struck gold – is in big demand. Guests have to book well in advance, and most reservations are made via the Internet. Young Ben Thompson, who spends his school holidays working as the St George’s porter, meets them at the gates of Barkerville. His garb is straight from the 1800’s, and he wheels the suitcases away in an old wooden cart. Owner Thomas Schoen, resplendent in Victorian costume, with top hat and walking cane, greets guests at the door of the hotel. Schoen, and his wife Bettina, who are Bavarian, visited auction rooms and antique stores all over British Columbia to furnish the hotel with items from the gold rush period. But you’ll not find a ceramic pot under the bed. The building has been thoughtfully renovated. There are modern bathrooms, and central heating when the nights turn chilly. The Barkerville Heritage Trust administers Barkerville, and strict criteria have to be met to ensure authenticity. “Even dishes for the dinner table have to be given official approval,” said Schoen, who opened the business in 1997. Occupancy rates are between 80 and 90 per cent. Room rates are reasonable, ranging from Cdn$130 to Cdn$140 per night, with breakfast. The breakfast menu is extensive, and includes pancakes, cereals, German sausages and Pacific salmon. Barkerville is open year-round but the St George Hotel is only open for the main season, from May to October. In summer, actors and actresses walk the streets in costume, and there are several guided tours daily. As Chinese lived in one area of the town during the gold rush it is not surprising to find a Chinese restaurant. Johnson Cheng runs it with his wife Shirley, who used to live in Hong Kong. It’s quite a contrast for a retired nuclear engineer. In keeping with its heritage character, the St George Hotel does not have television. But guests can leave Barkerville in the evening to be entertained in the nearby town of Wells at the Jack of Clubs casino. BRITISH COLUMBIA HOTELS Photo courtesy Mike Currie |
|
| DESTINATIONS: Africa / Asia / Australasia / Canada / Caribbean / Europe / Latin America / Mediterranean / Middle East / United States HOTELS: Canada Hotels / USA Hotels HOME: Home Page / Contact Us / Submissions |
||
| ABOUT US: Travel Scribbles features hundreds of travel articles and travel stories with writing from some of the best travel writers covering hundreds of destinations from Africa and Asia to Europe, Canada and the USA. Personal experiences, travel guides, cruise reviews, wry commentary and even poetry on vacation destinations fills the pages of Travel Scribbles. We are always interested in submissions so if you have an experience of a destination you would like to share with our readers, or if you have any comments on our site - please feel free to contact us at info@travelscribbles.com |
||
 |
||