Halkirk Hotel, Halkirk, Alberta

Drove by this August 22, 2015. They do not build stuff like this anymore. I definitely wanted to see the inside but it was all closed up with a for sale sign on it.

Hand Hills United Church Part Two

Just down the road a few miles from where the original site of the Hand Hills United Church is marked you will find the original Hand Hills United Church at the Hand Hills Stampede Grounds. Across the field from the church is a rodeo grounds with a grandstand and a fairly recent community centre in the middle of nowhere. There are no houses nearby. Signs on the gravel road advertise the Hand Hills Stampede which occurred on May 29-31, 2015. Out of curiosity I may have to go next year.

The church is locked. No services are advertised. I could find no reason why they moved it.

This was interesting to see. It is on the side of the church and points out the history of the area. This area must have had a decent population to support seven schools and fourteen churches. Of course some of them did not last too long, only existing for a few years. I only looked at a few places on the map in person, it had rained heavily the day before and Alberta gravel roads can be muddy. If I am going back it will be when everything has dried out.

Finding stuff like this really makes trips like this worthwhile. I am a guy that likes to get out and find some local history. These people went to a lot of effort to preserve history in their little part of Alberta and I really appreciate finding items like this.

Old pump near the church.

Hand Hills United Church Part One

Original location of the church 1933 - 1970. The marker is one I have never seen before. It is like the school markers I frequently run across except it has a cross on top of it. 

Where the marker stands is likely the entrance to the church. This was sitting just behind some barbed wire. It had heavily rained the day before and I did not feel like possibly slipping in mud while trying to cross over the fence. This was a well maintained barbed wire fence.

You can see the outline of the foundation. 

This is at a rural intersection of gravel roads. At a corner on the other side of the road shows where a school once stood. The sign says "Hand Hills High 1937 - 1947" so the school was only used ten years at the most. There must have been a fair number of people to support a church and a high school. Now there is nothing.

Why I am rarely nostalgic

August 16, 2015 I finally decided to take a look at the Rocky Rapids General Store which is now in a sort of outdoor museum in Drayton Valley, Alberta. This is the original General Store that was in Rocky Rapids, Alberta which is just a little north of Drayton Valley. It was moved here a little over ten years ago. My grandmother on my father's side worked for years in this store. My grandfather died before I was born. There was a post office inside it and I can remember her looking after the post office as one of her duties. Going here as a kid I remember this place being crammed with everything from groceries to clothes to hardware. They even had gas pumps out front. My uncle who had a farm north and west of there was a loyal customer for years, even when it made more sense to buy his stuff in Drayton Valley which was a much bigger place with far more amenities.

I took a look through the windows as the building was locked. Nothing was the way I remembered it. They are turning the inside into a museum which is fine. It does nothing for my memories though. There is a post office sign inside but the sign I could see is the post office sign for Berrymoor, not Rocky Rapids. As an aside, there is nothing at Berrymoor anymore. The layout inside is not the same. Seeing it evoked no memories or past thoughts. It no longer means anything. The signs outside note that the buildings are no longer open and there are cameras due to repeated vandalism.

You cannot go home again because home changes once you leave. The present rarely matches memories of the past. Some of the places I used to live I would have trouble recognizing anymore. One place no longer exists as a town, the town itself is gone. Memories are just that. I rarely long for things that belong to another place and time.

Not your usual school marker

August 12, 2015 I was driving along Highway 9 in Alberta and spotted this at the side of the highway. I have photos of about thirty various markers of where one room schoolhouses once stood or are still standing. What makes this one interesting is right at the base of it is a burrow. 

The hole is fairly large, close to one foot in diameter. I have no idea what lives here. I did not find any tracks or any other clues. I certainly was not going to stick my arm down into the hole.