We had the opportunity to go to Barkerville as a cohort. On the way to the township, we made a variety of stops. The initial stop was to Blessings Grave where my perspective was challenged. I was very interested with how we would approach murder, death and honouring the resting place of someone with no personal connection to us. There is a need for greater sensitivity around historical locations. I found that many of us seemed to forget that we were standing over the remains of a very real person. We then went to the Chinese grave sites, and had the opportunity to ponder what it was like when reconciliation happened, and the bodies were moved out of the Wells area.
My personal point of enjoyment was walking through Wells and getting to experience an outdoor classroom. I was amazed with the incredible community space that was created, and how easy it was to access for the school. We had the opportunity to have a local artist lead us in building natural mandelas. This was a creative way to immerse ourselves in place based learning.
When it came to the actual visiting of Barkerville, everything was short lived. There was some illness in our group which caused us to leave early, but for me I have been to Barkerville at least once a year since I could remember. I was excited to get a donut and some candy, before seeing a Chinese school lesson.
This entire experience has helped me to better understand the importance of exploring history in Northern British Columbia, and diving into place based learning. I would like to continue this learning through exploring more historical sites closer to Prince George.