General Tour Information

All tours are held in the City of New Westminster, are free and there is no need to register. The tours last between 1 ½ and 2 hours and go rain or shine. Your tour guides, Archie and Dale Miller, highly regarded, popular leaders for such walks, are known for always having the historical facts and accounts at hand while keeping the whole event light and entertaining.

If you have questions about the tour, difficulty level of its route, or want to confirm that a tour is going ahead in spite of weather problems or other factors on the day of the tour, call the tour leaders at 604-526-6113. You can also email them at information@senseofhistory.com

Always wear comfortable footwear and carry water, especially on hot days. The tours are scheduled later in the day in summer months to reduce the effects of the sun, but a hat, appropriate clothing, and sunscreen are always a good, health conscious idea.

Separate media releases will be issued to promote each of the upcoming tours. These releases will contain up-to-date information about the tour and often newly researched findings that enhance the tour itself.

* Please note that the tours are subject to change in theme and route but any change will be announced well in advance of the tour date.

About the Tours and Tour Leaders

Archie and Dale Miller (A Sense of History) are well known for their abilities with walking tours, cemetery tours, presentations, and other historical and heritage themed programs. Many groups, school classes, and others regularly arrange for tours by A Sense of History because of the excellence of presentation, the comprehensiveness of preparation, and the attention to detail. Archie and Dale are pleased to offer this set of free tours to the community as part of their ongoing work with the City’s history and as a way to encourage others to learn more of their community’s story.

April 17, 2011 (Sunday)
[Walking tour will start at 1:30 pm at the corner of Cumberland Street at Columbia Street. The tour will form up at this location and then, after some opening comments to set the scene of the tour, the group will head off together to the park. Those coming by car can park on Cumberland. There are a limited number of parking spots in the park itself]

Sapperton Landing Park – A Walking Tour For Its Tenth Anniversary
This is a wonderful park with marvelous views in all seasons and a great place to go for a walk. The park is ten years old in 2011 and is well used throughout the year. There are two stories to learn on a walk here: one outlines the creation of the park itself, as most of the park area was created 10 years ago; and the other concerns the many historical connections related to this park space and its surroundings.

May 15, 2011 (Sunday)
[Walking tour will start at 1:30 pm in Moody Park at the corner of 6th Avenue at 8th Street, the corner of the park with the clock and the monument to Colonel Richard Moody. The tour will end, after a meandering route, about two blocks away.] ]

An Uptown New Westminster Walk
Uptown New Westminster has changed a great deal over the years with the most dramatic change occurring since the mid 1950s. This tour will point out some of the locations in the area that once held buildings, businesses or stores of note in the history of “uptown”. Some of the stories to be included are about the CG Major house, Hollywood Hospital (or Sanitarium), Woodwards Department Store, Westminster Mall, streetcar lines, a dairy or two, many former businesses and three theatres.

June 5, 2011 (Sunday)
[ Walking tour will start at 1:30 pm near the office of the Fraser Cemetery at 100 Richmond Street. While this is not a cemetery tour it will nevertheless gather at that location. For those coming by car or transit, there is parking here and the bus stops nearby. The tour will not likely end back at the start location but it is an easy return walk back to the start.]

A Sapperton Walking Tour: A Cross Town Walk From the Cemetery to Hume Park
The Sapperton neighborhood has been the focus of a number of walking and cemetery tours over the years with this one being a bit different. This walk will start at the Fraser Cemetery office, a good place to set the scene as the walk heads off across town to Hume Park. This tour, formerly used for student groups, is being offered to the general public for the first time. Some of the sites to be pointed out and commented upon include the cemetery, the BC Penitentiary, a number of corner stores, industry on the waterfront, McBride School, the S B Buchanan home and “Buchanan’s Bush”, a few homes of interest, early gas stations, the brewery and distillery, and features within Hume Park.

July 10, 2011 (Sunday)
[Cemetery tour starts at 3:00 pm near the office of Fraser Cemetery, 100 Richmond Street in the Sapperton neighborhood of New Westminster.]

A Cemetery Tour: The Symbolism And Information To Be Found On A Gravestone
Cemeteries are places that are visited to honour someone buried there or to simply enjoy the landscape and the solitude of such a location. Cemeteries are also places that display fine examples of “artwork” in the images, sometimes very symbolic, that are depicted on the grave markers themselves. These can be very simple such as a lamb for a child’s grave or more complex with gates to heaven, a bible, welcoming hands, and so on. These symbols can often be very useful in the world of genealogy as they might describe cultural background, religion, group affiliations, societal connections, and hobbies or pastimes. There is a lot to see and it can be quite fascinating. The tour will also point out some of the cemetery trees and foliage and note their symbolism within a burial ground.

August 14, 2011 (Sunday)
[Cemetery tour starts at 3:00 pm near the office of Fraser Cemetery, 100 Richmond Street in the Sapperton neighborhood of New Westminster]

A Cemetery Tour: Some Sapperton People In Fraser And St Peter’s Cemeteries
These cemeteries, Fraser and St Peter’s, are the final resting places for many people who called Sapperton home or a long time place of business. A Sapperton cemetery tour was the first such tour created and presented by a member of the present day ‘A Sense of History’ about 40 years ago so a tour on this theme is always special. Included will be a brewery owner, the owner of “Buchanan’s Bush”, a sports enthusiast or two, a politician, some store owners, a Royal Engineer (for the name of the neighbourhood), someone from the Royal Columbian Hospital, a connection to the Penitentiary, and a number of family names from the area.

September 11, 2011 (Sunday)
[Cemetery tour starts at 1:30 pm near the office of Fraser Cemetery, 100 Richmond Street in the Sapperton neighborhood of New Westminster.]

A Cemetery Tour: Stories And People Of The New Westminster Fire Department
The New Westminster Fire Department (now New Westminster Fire and Rescue Service) holds a prominent and very interesting place in the history of this city. They trace their roots back to the summer of 1861 and this year is their 150th anniversary. In honour of this auspicious date, this tour will present many stories about the department and introduce many people with fire department connections who are buried in Fraser Cemetery. Within the list of those to be introduced will be some very early members of the Fire Brigade, a number of Fire Chiefs including the chief at the time of the City’s Great Fire of 1898 and the Chief whose name can be found on the 1928 Mack fire truck that is currently featured at many civic events, a number of members of the department who fought the 1898 fire, and others involved with the fire department.