Self guided visit to the museum grounds
What it actually looks like
What the children do
The museum is a heritage park you walk around yourself. Eight heritage buildings are on the grounds, among them the Montrose School, the fire hall, the French Creek and Craig's Crossing post offices, McMillan House, Craig's Cottage, Craig's Cabin and the Knox Church, and there is a working blacksmith forge with the only traditional Japanese forge in Western Canada, an interactive exhibit about the E and N Railway inside Craig's Cabin, the Mosaic Pavilion on Vancouver Island forestry and logging, a tractor barn, a canoe shelter, an exhibit hall and a short nature trail. Self guided tour boards are set out around the Marion Craig Courtyard, which is open year round. Admission is by donation and the museum suggests $5 a person. No guided tour, school program, group rate, group size limit, notice period or way of booking a group is published anywhere on the site.
Walk between the old buildings and go inside them, look round the schoolhouse, the fire hall and the post offices, try the hands on parts of the railway and forestry exhibits, see the blacksmith forge, read the boards around the courtyard and walk the short nature trail.
Good to know
There are outdoor washrooms near the courtyard, and the courtyard itself is open all year and is where a picnic would happen. The church and the meeting room take a wheelchair, but nothing is said about the older buildings, the nature trail, shelter in the rain, or where a bus would park, so it is worth a call.
Getting there
1245 East Island Highway, Parksville, BC V9P 2E5