W hat was it that encouraged people to come to New Westminster to visit? As a tourist in the first decades of the city's history that question is frequently put, were there really tourists in the early days of the city?
The short answer to this is yes, there were tourists. While much of the travel to and around this area in the 1860s was for business, exploration, prospecting and homesteading, there were also those folks who were simply seeing the sites they had heard about in accounts published elsewhere in the world.
One man, Capt. Barrett Leonard, arrived on a large ship in 1860 with the intention of circumnavigating Vancouver Island. To do this, he and a partner brought a small sailing vessel with them, completed their voyage, visited many locations, including New Westminster, and then wrote a book on their exploits and experiences.
Two other fellows, Messrs Milton and Cheadle, crossed North America to the local colonies in what was a strenuous and dangerous pleasure trip. This trip, also in the early 1860s, included a visit to New Westminster, and also resulted in a book of their adventures.
Others like Macfie and Chittenden in the 1880s visited as well, recorded their observations and wrote wonderful descriptive books that set the scene for others they knew would arrive as well, some intending to stay and others for personal exploration and adventure.
In those very early decades of the Royal City, there were a number of things that attracted visitors. People were drawn to the city to see the displays of local goods and items that were destined for a major exhibition on London, England. This was exciting to see as it was going to the old country.
This is fascinating local history and the Historical Society on Wednesday, July 17, at 7: 30 p.m. in the auditorium of the New Westminster Public Library will feature a look at tourism - new and old - with Tej Kainth of Tourism New West and historian Archie Miller providing the stories.
What else might have attracted early tourists?
The lacrosse games, riverboat excursions, the auto camp and zoo in Queen's Park, an opera house performance, May Day, the 1898 fire devastation (ghoulish but true), and market day.
