Exit Thru the Gift Shop - Museums, Attractions & Oddities: Museums

Vancouver Maritime Museum

The Vancouver Maritime Museum is a opened in 1959 and is located within Vanier Park just west of False Creek on the Vancouver waterfront. The main exhibit is the St. Roch, a historic arctic exploration vessel used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the museum also extensive galleries of model ships.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35r-HcQc70

Website: https://vanmaritime.com/

Location: 1905 Ogden Ave, Vancouver, BC V6J 1A3

BILL REID GALLERY OF NORTHWEST COAST ART

The Bill Reid Gallery was established by the Bill Reid Foundation to celebrate the Haida master artist Bill Reid (1920 - 1998), contemporary Indigenous Northwest Coast Art and the diverse living cultures of the Northwest Coast. Bill Reid was an acclaimed indigenous artist who infused Haida traditions with his own modernist aesthetic to create both exquisitely small as well as monumental work that captured the public's imagination. His best known works include several large sculptures, Raven and the First Man, The Spirit of Haida Gwaii which have been showcased on the Canadian $20 bill as well as Chief of the Undersea World.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiwonj2IGwo

Website: https://www.billreidgallery.ca/

Location: 639 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC V6C 2G3

Hands Up! An Immersive Billy Miner Train Robbery Experience

Hands Up! is a brand new audio-visual experience at the Maple Ridge Museum that transports you back in time to the famous Billy Miner train robbery of 1904. This exhilarating audio visual experience will take visitors through British Columbia's first ever train robbery, the trial, escape, and re-capture of the infamous "Gentleman Bandit".

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBqIoJ4iUSs

Website: https://mapleridgemuseum.org/

Location: 22520 116 Ave, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 0S4

GULF OF GEORGIA CANNERY: Fish Processing & Legend of the Stinkaroo!

Built in 1894, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site remembers the days when it was the leading producer of canned salmon in British Columbia. Today it is a museum with interactive exhibits, film, and tours that demonstrate the Cannery's important role in the history of Canada's West Coast fishing industry.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox55xymDPX8

Website: http://gulfofgeorgiacannery.org/

Location: 12138 Fourth Ave, Richmond, BC V7E 3J1

VANCOUVER ISLAND VISITOR CENTRE & COURTENAY PALEONTOLOGY CENTRE

The award winning Vancouver Island Visitor Center informs visitors about the cultural and recreational highlights of the north Vancouver Island. The nearby Courtenay and District Museum and Paleontology Centre collects and preserves the natural and cultural heritage of the Comox Valley highlighting fossils, geology, First Nations history, pioneer settlement history, social history of the Comox Valley. The Paleontology Centre showcases marine fossils discovered in the local area, including a full skeleton of the Elasmosaurus. The museum has been featured in numerous television documentaries, including shows on the Discovery Channel and the Knowledge Network.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOJO_whfOYk

Website: https://www.courtenaymuseum.ca/

Location: 207 4th St, Courtenay, BC V9N 1G7

MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY TOUR

The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is renowned for its displays of world arts and cultures, in particular works by First Nation band governments of the Pacific Northwest. MOA houses close to 50,000 ethnographic objects, as well as 535,000 archaeological objects in its building alone.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI47Mh7Wyag

Website: http://moa.ubc.ca/

Location: https://g.page/MOAUBC

IMAGINE VAN GOGH: An Immersive Art Experience

Imagine Van Gogh, is an exhibition where one can admire The Starry Night, Irises and Sunflowers, or be drawn into the intimacy of his Bedroom in Arles. An experience that brings viewers to the heart of its images, Imagine Van Gogh is accompanied by the music of the great composers

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5cqnnN_WU

Website: https://www.imagine-vangogh.com/

TOUR OF CRAIGDARROCH CASTLE

Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, British Columbia, is a historic, Victorian-era Scottish Baronial mansion, designated a National Historic Site of Canada. It was constructed in the late 19th century as a family residence for the wealthy coal baron Robert Dunsmuir and his wife Joan and the building later served as a military hospital, college, offices, and a conservatory, before it was re-purposed into a historical museum in 1979. The museum is currently owned by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society, which is a private non-profit society, and receives 150,000 visitors a year.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzyHcfFW2n4

Website: http://www.thecastle.ca/

Location: 1050 Joan Crescent, Victoria, BC V8S 3L5

Royal B.C. Museum: Becoming BC and First Peoples Galleries

Founded in 1886, the Royal B.C. Museum consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The Royal BC Museum includes three permanent galleries: Natural History, Becoming BC and the First Peoples Gallery. The museum’s collections comprise approximately 7 million objects, including natural history specimens, artifacts, and archival records.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4waAzT1hrg

Website: https://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/

Location: 675 Belleville St, Victoria, BC V8W 9W2

Jim Shockey’s Hand Of Man Museum

The Hand of Man Museum showcases outdoorsman, hunter and TV personality Jim Shockey’s private collection of natural history and cultural arts artifacts. Acquired over 52 years of travel, this collection contains countless priceless artifacts ranging from a wooly mammoth skeleton to a megalodon jaw and tribal statues to taxidermy.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QWlCICUTnY

Website: http://handofman.org/

Location: 6759 Considine Ave, Duncan, BC V9L 5X2

MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN: First Comic Superhero

Leon Giglio better known by his stage name Leon Mandrake, was a Canadian magician, mentalist, illusionist, escapologist, ventriloquist and stunt performer known worldwide as Mandrake the Magician, albeit simultaneously and unrelatedly to the comic strip character Mandrake the Magician.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNuiPesN7UU

Website: http://www.surrey.ca/museum

Location: 17710 56a Ave, Surrey, BC V3S 5H8

Incredible Lego Exhibition at the Museum of Sidney BC

The Sidney Museum is holding it's 15th annual Lego Exhibit which showcases a huge number of rare and unusual Lego kits with topics including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Minecraft, Batman, Lego Friends, Beatles and more! Learn about the history of Lego as we explore this increadible collection.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0YdOMBswHI

Website: http://www.sidneymuseum.ca/

Location: 2423 Beacon Ave L-3, Sidney, BC V8L 1X5

ROYAL B.C. MUSEUM: Natural History Gallery

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCHNwGKlvqs

Website: https://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/

Location: 675 Belleville St, Victoria, BC V8W 9W2

Ashcroft BC: Pioneer Gold Rush Town

Ashcroft was founded in the 1860s, during the Cariboo Gold Rush, by two English brothers named Clement Francis Cornwall and Henry Pennant Cornwall, who emigrated to Canada from Ashcroft, at Newington Bagpath in Gloucestershire.The brothers had originally come in search of gold; however, on hearing stories from failed gold searchers they decided to found the town to give future gold searchers a place to saddle their horses. They sold flour to packers and miners, helping to make the community. The Cariboo Road ran nearby but on the west bank of the Thompson River. The Canadian Pacific Railway reached Ashcroft in 1884 and the town became a division point and service centre for the rail line. The province built a bridge across the river in 1890 so travellers could ride the train to Ashcroft then board a stagecoach for a journey north. In 1920, when the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (now BC Rail) was partially built, running from Squamish to Clinton and Williams Lake, Ashcroft lost strategic importance as a supply centre and transit point for the north. After this, the townsfolk started to rely on farming to sustain the community. Despite being dry, farming was very successful because of water from the Thompson River and hot sun. During the 1920s the small but successful Chinese community made money by testing the growing of potatoes and tomatoes.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QpgD6X2QPU

Website: http://ashcroftbc.ca/museum/

Location: 404 Brink St, Ashcroft, BC V0K 1A0

Dreamcycle Motorcycle Museum

The Dreamcycle Motorcycle Museum is home to one of the most unique, rare, and diverse collections of motorbikes in Canada. Chosen for their unique styles and incredible stories, every motorcycle adds a different and exciting element to the museum.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6lefUV6bfY

Website: http://www.dreamcycle.ca/

Location: Trans-Canada Hwy, Sorrento, BC V0E 2W1

Beaty Biodiversity Museum

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum is a natural history museum at the University of British Columbia. The museum has 20,000 square feet of collections with over 2 Million specimens and 500 exhibits and is home to the largest blue whale skeleton in Canada.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLek92-tWPU

Website: http://www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca/

Location: Vancouver Campus, 2212 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

Museum of Surrey

The Museum of Surrey ignites imaginations and connects Surrey's diverse citizens and communities by celebrating Surrey’s past, present and future through innovative, dynamic and delightful learning, storytelling, and creating shared experiences.

The Arctic Voices exhibit features an immersive and comprehensive look into the Arctic region- its people, culture and environmental importance to the rest of the world. Visitors are invited to challenge their perceptions of the Arctic and discover a colourful land that’s actually closer to their own backyard then they might think. They will hear from the people that inhabit this region, as they share their knowledge about the land and their unique culture.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmVKlgq-gGk

Website: https://www.surrey.ca/arts-culture/museum-of-surrey

Location: 17710 56a Ave, Surrey, BC V3S 5H8

Tillamook Air Museum and Blimp Hangar

The Tillamook Air Museum is housed inside a former World War II Blimp Hanger which housed K-class airships used for anti-submarine patrol and convoy escort. This hangar is almost 200 feet tall and is one of the largest wooden structures in the world.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38C_lz5o7Ig

Website: http://www.tillamookair.com/

Location: 6030 Hangar Rd, Tillamook, OR 97141, United States

BRITANNIA MINE TOUR

The Britannia Mine Museum, located 55 km kilometres north of Vancouver, British Columbia on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, preserves and presents to the public information and artifacts related to British Columbia's mining industry.

The museum is the site of Mill 3, a20 story building, a gravity fed concentrator for ore processing, was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1987 an an important source of copper ore for almost 70 years and during the 1920s and 1930s it constituted one of the largest mining operations in Canada.

Visitors are given a mine tour including a train ride through an historic haulage tunnel, driven in 1914 to transport ore from the original mill buildings to the shore. The site is also a popular location for film and TV productions, most notably Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, the The X-Files, Okja, The Man in the High Castle and MacGyver

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2o92OOY_3w

Website: http://www.britanniaminemuseum.ca/

Location: 1 Forbes Way, Britannia Beach, BC V0N 1J0

PEACHLAND BC MUSEUM AND KETTLE VALLEY MODEL RAILWAY

The Peachland Museum has gathered hundreds of historical artifacts, photographs, newspapers and documents for display, offering a glimpse into the rich history of Peachland and its people. The upper floor of the Museum houses a scale model railway of the Kettle Valley Railway, as it existed between 1955 and 1965, built and maintained by the Central Okanagan Railway Company.

The Museum is housed in a unique 8-sided Peachland Baptist Church was constructed, mainly by volunteers, in 1910 and served as a place of worship until 1964. Over the years it has functioned as a temporary Municipal Hall, Parks and Recreation Office, Fire Brigade Hall and Public Library.

Our Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQXjmy88T1U

Website: https://peachlandhistory.ca/

Location: 5890 Beach Ave, Peachland, BC V0H 1X7

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