[BCMA] Media release from Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

For immediate release

Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives

May 21, 2010

 

Funding for Kinsol Trestle online exhibit awarded to 

Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives and Shawnigan Lake Museum

 

The Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives and the Shawnigan Lake Museum are pleased to announce that Canadian Heritage has approved our application for a $5,000.00 grant to create a Virtual Museum of Canada online exhibit entitled, The Kinsol Trestle: Abandoned, Then Embraced.  This funding will allow us to design an exhibit that will become part of the Community Memories Program on the Canadian Heritage Information Network's website.

 

This grant provides an opportunity for our community to share their stories about the Kinsol Trestle.  Through this exhibit, we will explore the history of the Kinsol, its significance and the recent, and sometimes contentious, movement to save the trestle from demolition.

 

Built by the Canadian National Railway and completed in 1920, the historic trestle spans the Koksilah River in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  Abandoned in 1979, years of neglect and vandalism led some people to believe that the trestle could not be saved.   It has been determined by heritage experts that the Kinsol is not only structurally sound but also culturally significant.  With most of the funding in place, rehabilitation of the trestle will begin soon.

 

Over the summer and early fall, we will be collecting stories, photographs and information that along with material from our archives will be incorporated into the new exhibit.  If you have a Kinsol-related story, photo or artifact Kathryn and Lori invite you to contact them (please see contact information below).  With the trestle on the verge of rehabilitation, we are thrilled to be undertaking a project that will celebrate the history of this great structure.

 

We gratefully acknowledge the support of Canadian Heritage and the Virtual Museum of Canada's Community Memories Program.

 

Contact:         Kathryn Gagnon, Curator, Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives

                        (250) 746-6612

                        cvmusuem.archives at shaw.ca

 

                        Lori Treloar, Curator, Shawnigan Lake Museum

                        (250) 743-8675

                                    shawniganlakemuseum at shaw.ca
Kathryn Gagnon
Curator/Manager
Cowichan Valley Museum and Archives
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