Old Yale Barn Gets TLC

Work is progressing on roof repairs for the barn inside Old Yale Park. The barn was built in about 1915; without this work the barn would not be much longer for this world.   A large tarp is helping keep the weather out while contractor, Darwin Development & Construction, works on the sub-roof. New hemlock struts are now in place in the bottom half of the hip-shaped roof. Our president Fred Pepin cut them on his home sawmill.   Upstairs, looking to the east you can see the owl box in the upper centre. The owl is still there each morning. The original joists were mostly made from cedar. The metal bar running through the centre of the ceiling was for pulling slings of hay into the barn.   The downstairs area of the barn was once used for dairy cattle. The barn in Old Yale Park is part of [...]

2024-03-25T20:32:47+00:00March 25th, 2024|

Latest Newsletter

With spring there's lots to come in the next few weeks: work begins on a barn restoration; our AGM Dinner is planned for May; the CNR Station reopens on May Day Monday, and we'll launch a Youth Jazz Series with the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival. Read all about it HERE.

2024-03-19T20:16:15+00:00March 19th, 2024|

Mapping Local History

What's in a name? Kwantlen translates as "Tireless Runner" in the h?n?q??min??m? language. Langley was named after Thomas Langley, a director with the Hudson's Bay Company that established the fur trading post in 1827. Murrayville, originally called Murray's Corners, got its name from Paul & Lucy Murray, first settlers in the area. Aldergrove was named after the great stands of alder trees on rolling hills near the Bruskey farm. Otter was named after Colonel William Otter, commander of the Canadian contingent in the Boer War. Matsqui translates as "Easy Portage" in Halq'eméylem. Willoughby got its name from Willoughby Singer whose family operated a store and post office beside the Willoughby Hall on 208th Street in the 1920s. Milner was named after a British statesman and colonial administrator, Lord Alfred Milner. An excellent source of information about local names is: Roads & Other Place Names in Langley, B.C. by the late Maureen [...]

2024-03-09T19:30:24+00:00March 9th, 2024|

Early Internet: Telegraph Trail

This marker stands near the intersection of Glover Road and Telegraph Trail and commemorates the first telegraph line built in the west in 1865 by Collins Overland, in partnership with Western Union and the California State Telegraph Company. They were in a race to link North America with Europe from Los Angeles, through British Columbia to Alaska, then across the Bering Strait, and through Russia. It would have been a 10,000 mile link (6,000 km). They lost the race after a line was laid across the ocean floor between Ireland and Newfoundland that same year. For a while Telegraph Trail was an important transportation route in the Langley region. The line made it as far as Alaska, but was mostly abandoned, except in parts of southern BC. The telegraph line was eventually moved to the Old Yale Road; there was a telegraph office in the Shortreed store west of Aldergrove. [...]

2024-03-11T17:21:26+00:00March 9th, 2024|

Upcoming Events for Members

  See you at Milner Chapel on March 19th! It's a good opportunity to renew your membership in advance of the AGM in May.

2024-03-08T23:33:00+00:00March 8th, 2024|

Gold, Grit, Guns

Next up on the Langley Heritage Society calendar -- "Gold, Grit, Guns" on March 19th. Alexander Globe takes us inside the 1858 gold rush through the journals of four miners. Another free event for LHS members -- see you at Milner Chapel!

2024-03-01T00:18:38+00:00March 1st, 2024|

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