history

Paving the Old Yale Road between Langley Prairie and Murrayville Five Corners, 1922. This was Langley’s first stretch of paved road. (Langley Centennial Museum collection/ Special to the Langley Advance Times) Paving the Old Yale Road between Langley Prairie and Murrayville Five Corners, 1922. This was Langley’s first stretch of paved road. (Langley Centennial Museum collection/ Special to the Langley Advance Times)

Crumbling Old Yale Road in Murrayville could get upgrade in 2024

Township council will consider public input before choosing a specific solution

 

Historic Stewart Farm reopens for the season on Feb. 1, with new programming for 2023 to include a Silent Film Club. (Chung Chow photo)

Silent Film Club launching at South Surrey’s Historic Stewart Farm

Club to explore comedy greats

 

Patrick Calihou explained sourcing nails to build the authentic York boat behind him was a challenge. He was one of several presenters at Vive les Voyageurs at historic Fort Langley on Saturday, Jan. 21. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)

VIDEO: Vive les Voyageurs returns to historic Fort Langley

First in two years

 

Historian David Saint-Pierre shows photos of the salvage operation from the sinking of the Empress of Ireland in 1914 at his home, Thursday, January 12, 2023 in Montreal.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Quebec historian obtains photos of salvage operation for Empress of Ireland shipwreck

David Saint-Pierre found the photos on eBay

Historian David Saint-Pierre shows photos of the salvage operation from the sinking of the Empress of Ireland in 1914 at his home, Thursday, January 12, 2023 in Montreal.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Ascalon Academy has started swordsmanship classes in Kelowna and Penticton for 2023. (Brittany Webster/Capital News)

VIDEO: En garde! Fight like medieval men with Ascalon Academy in the Okanagan

Black Press reporter Brittany Webster attended a class learning the Italian rapier sword

Ascalon Academy has started swordsmanship classes in Kelowna and Penticton for 2023. (Brittany Webster/Capital News)
Parks Canada underwater archaeologist Jonathan Moore observes a washing basin and an officer’s bedplace on the lower deck of the wreck of the HMS Erebus during a dive in this September 2022 handout photo in the Northwest Passage. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Parks Canada, Marc-Andre Bernier

‘Hallowed space’: Divers pull 275 artifacts from 2022 excavation of Franklin ship

The discovery of a leather book cover has researchers particularly excited

Parks Canada underwater archaeologist Jonathan Moore observes a washing basin and an officer’s bedplace on the lower deck of the wreck of the HMS Erebus during a dive in this September 2022 handout photo in the Northwest Passage. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Parks Canada, Marc-Andre Bernier
A Google Maps view of the former Otter Co-op silos was taken a few months before they were demolished. (July 2022 Google Street View)

VIDEO: After close to 60 years, ‘iconic’ Milner silos are demolished

Formerly used for grain shipments to Aldergrove’s Otter Co-op

A Google Maps view of the former Otter Co-op silos was taken a few months before they were demolished. (July 2022 Google Street View)
Professors Eske Willerslev and Kurt H. Kjaer expose fresh layers for sampling of sediments at Kap Kobenhavn, Greenland. Scientists have analyzed 2-million-year-old DNA extracted from dirt samples in the area, revealing an ancient ecosystem unlike anything seen on Earth today, including traces of mastodons and horseshoe crabs roaming the Arctic. (Svend Funder via AP)

Oldest DNA reveals life in Greenland 2 million years ago

Scientists discovered the oldest known DNA and used it to reveal what…

Professors Eske Willerslev and Kurt H. Kjaer expose fresh layers for sampling of sediments at Kap Kobenhavn, Greenland. Scientists have analyzed 2-million-year-old DNA extracted from dirt samples in the area, revealing an ancient ecosystem unlike anything seen on Earth today, including traces of mastodons and horseshoe crabs roaming the Arctic. (Svend Funder via AP)
A steel drum band was part of the Douglas Day activities at historic Fort Langley on Saturday, Nov. 19, which focussed in part on the personal history of B.C. founder Sir James Douglas, born in Guyana. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)

VIDEO: Douglas Day looks at the human side of historical figure

Sir James Douglas had a ‘complicated legacy’

A steel drum band was part of the Douglas Day activities at historic Fort Langley on Saturday, Nov. 19, which focussed in part on the personal history of B.C. founder Sir James Douglas, born in Guyana. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
226 pioneers and spouses, along with 115 dignitaries and invited guests attended the Douglas Day 2022 pioneers banquet on Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Langley Events Centre. It was the first in-person version of the annual event since 2019. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)

VIDEO: A return to an in-person celebration of pioneers draws more than 300 to Langley banquet

Douglas Day celebration the first since 2019

226 pioneers and spouses, along with 115 dignitaries and invited guests attended the Douglas Day 2022 pioneers banquet on Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Langley Events Centre. It was the first in-person version of the annual event since 2019. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
John Swityk at age 97 in 2018 at a Langley Remembrance Day event. The D-Day veteran turned 100 last year. (Langley Advance Times files)

In Our View: From memory into history

We need new ways to mark the great wars as many veterans die of old age

  • Nov 10, 2022
John Swityk at age 97 in 2018 at a Langley Remembrance Day event. The D-Day veteran turned 100 last year. (Langley Advance Times files)
Cassandra Hatton, senior vice president, global head of department, Science & Popular Culture at Sotheby’s, touches the tooth of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull excavated from Harding County, South Dakota, in 2020-2021, in New York City on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. When auctioned in December, the auction house expects the dinosaur skull to sell for $15 to $25 million. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

VIDEO: T rex skull unearthed in South Dakota to be auctioned in NY

Skull expected to go for at least $15 million

Cassandra Hatton, senior vice president, global head of department, Science & Popular Culture at Sotheby’s, touches the tooth of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull excavated from Harding County, South Dakota, in 2020-2021, in New York City on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. When auctioned in December, the auction house expects the dinosaur skull to sell for $15 to $25 million. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
Robert Friedman plays a Steinway grand piano once owned by Thomas Edison, with possible bite marks from the inventor visible, on Sept. 28, 2022, in Woodstock, N.Y. Edison, who was hard of hearing, bit into phonographs and pianos to help him better experience music. Friedman purchased the piano last year and hopes to find a home for it where it can be seen by the public. (AP Photo/Michael Hill)

VIDEO: Thomas Edison may have left his mark on piano

Famed inventor left ‘toothy signatures’ on piano

Robert Friedman plays a Steinway grand piano once owned by Thomas Edison, with possible bite marks from the inventor visible, on Sept. 28, 2022, in Woodstock, N.Y. Edison, who was hard of hearing, bit into phonographs and pianos to help him better experience music. Friedman purchased the piano last year and hopes to find a home for it where it can be seen by the public. (AP Photo/Michael Hill)
A person poses for a photo in front a large replica of National Geographic’s Sept. 2010 magazine cover at the Beyond King Tut Immersive Experience, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, in New York. The exhibition will open to the public on Friday, in commemoration of the the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb on Nov. 4, 1922. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

King Tut and his treasures to come alive for a high-def age in Vancouver

B.C. among the stops planned for immersive digital display of the Egyptian boy king

A person poses for a photo in front a large replica of National Geographic’s Sept. 2010 magazine cover at the Beyond King Tut Immersive Experience, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, in New York. The exhibition will open to the public on Friday, in commemoration of the the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb on Nov. 4, 1922. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
This early photo of the GN Aldergrove railway station shows the building in a darker paint scheme than later photos, which show it in a much lighter appearance. This photo was likely taken around 1910. (Alder Grove Heritage Society/Special to The Star)

Aldergrove railway integral to early local transport

Great Northern rail through Aldergrove was part of much bigger plan to link resource communities

  • Oct 22, 2022
This early photo of the GN Aldergrove railway station shows the building in a darker paint scheme than later photos, which show it in a much lighter appearance. This photo was likely taken around 1910. (Alder Grove Heritage Society/Special to The Star)
Princess Margaret helped open Langley Centennial Museum at 9135 King St. back in 1958. The museum will close its doors on Friday, Sept. 30, in preparation for its move across the street to new Salishan Place by the River currently under construction. (Langley Centennial Museum archives/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Langley Centennial Museum closes on Friday

It’s soon to be replaced by larger and more modern space in the Salishan Place by the River

Princess Margaret helped open Langley Centennial Museum at 9135 King St. back in 1958. The museum will close its doors on Friday, Sept. 30, in preparation for its move across the street to new Salishan Place by the River currently under construction. (Langley Centennial Museum archives/Special to Langley Advance Times)
On Sept. 12, Fiona Chesterton finally got to see the gravestone she commissioned for her distant cousin Jessie Heading Underwood. The British journalist and writer documented her research into the Langley branch of her family in a book, Secrets Never to be Told. (Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance Times)

Mystery inheritance led U.K. author to history of Langley family

Fiona Chesterton has written a book about her pioneer cousin, Jessie Heading Underwood

On Sept. 12, Fiona Chesterton finally got to see the gravestone she commissioned for her distant cousin Jessie Heading Underwood. The British journalist and writer documented her research into the Langley branch of her family in a book, Secrets Never to be Told. (Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance Times)
Krystal Janicki (left) and Tiare Boyes pose for a photo with a lobster during a dive in the waters of Gros Morne National Park on the west coast of Newfoundland. (Russell Clark/RCGS)

B.C. divers help uncover Newfoundland’s lost Liberator, ending 80-year search

International team of researchers, divers confirm discovery of crashed Second World War bomber

Krystal Janicki (left) and Tiare Boyes pose for a photo with a lobster during a dive in the waters of Gros Morne National Park on the west coast of Newfoundland. (Russell Clark/RCGS)
Prince Philip and then-Princess Elizabeth waved from their train car in Fort Langley in 1951 on a cross-country royal tour. (Langley Centennial Museum Collection/Special to the Langley Advance Times)

Crowds of thousands gathered to meet Queen Elizabeth in Fort Langley in 1971

The visit was part of the late monarch’s tour of B.C.

Prince Philip and then-Princess Elizabeth waved from their train car in Fort Langley in 1951 on a cross-country royal tour. (Langley Centennial Museum Collection/Special to the Langley Advance Times)
Writer-producer Kraig Wenman in a set representing a Canadian bank constructed in Georgia for the film Bandit. Contributed photo

New feature film by B.C. writer tells true story of Canada’s ‘Flying Bandit’

Project a labour of love for White Rock screenwriter Kraig Wenman

Writer-producer Kraig Wenman in a set representing a Canadian bank constructed in Georgia for the film Bandit. Contributed photo