Kilby Historic Site
Kilby Historic Site is a living history site bringing early life in the Fraser Valley to light. The 3-hectare heritage farm includes the 1906 General Store Museum and Manchester House Hotel & Post Office, as well as costumed interpreters, friendly farm animals and an orchard playground. The focal point is the General Store, once a temperance hotel built on pilings and linked to the railway station by a ramp to its second storey.
Thomas and Eliza Kilby converted it to a general store in 1906. Their son, Acton, took over the reins in 1922 and inherited the store when Thomas died in 1928. He and his wife Jessie would continue to operate and manage the store until 1977. In 1926, automobiles began to appear at Harrison Mills, and the Kilbys installed gravity-fed gas pumps that served travellers till 1977. In 1973, Acton received a plaque from Imperial Oil, rewarding him for fifty years of service.
Situated on a flood plain, the General Store and other buildings were elevated and connected with boardwalks. Today, visitors can see a fascinating gallery of store products and enjoy firsthand involvement with the intriguing artifacts of the farm and its current livestock.
Read more about this topic: Kilby Provincial Park
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—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
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