BC Heritage Week
Posted On: Feb 19, 2024
Tags: Featured , Home Featured - Secondary , Live Here , Your Municipality
BC Heritage Week is from February 19 to 25! We would like to take this time to highlight and recognize Sicamous' heritage.
Did you know that we have a Heritage Register? The Province of British Columbia has also confirmed that six heritage sites from Sicamous are a part of the BC Register of Historic Places.
The Red Barn
- Constructed in 1926, the Red Barn Arts Centre is a one-storey, wood frame, vernacular-style building.
- The Red Barn Arts Centre is recognized for its role in the social, cultural, educational and economic activities in the Sicamous community.
- 1930s - 1960s: The May Day Festival held in and around the Red Barn.
- Early 1950s: Acquired by the Royal Canadian Legion.
- 1990s: Provided an important space for public meetings and open houses.
Bruhn House & Office
- Constructed in 1922, the Bruhn House is a 1.5-storey single residential home located on the historic CPR Hill in Sicamous. The home is built of wood frame construction in the craftsman style.
- The house was built for Swedish immigrant R.W. Bruhn, who rose to prominence as an employer, politician and community advocate.
- Bruhn Office was constructed in the late 1920s in the CPR Hill neighbourhood and used by the R.W. Bruhn Lumber Company.
- The office was converted to a single family dwelling around 1948.
Eagle Valley Schoolhouse
- The one-room Eagle Valley Schoolhouse was built in 1921 on five acres of land donated by Mrs. M.J. Finlayson.
- The school was built by community volunteers with donations of lumber from the Bruhn Lumber Company.
- The building represents an early era of education in Sicamous, when only grades one through eight were offered.
- The schoolhouse is currently located within Finlayson Centennial Park.
Rauma Finnish Sauna
- Built in 1935, this two-room authentic dry heat Finnish Sauna is the only surviving outbuilding as part of a larger farm property.
- Located on the south bank of the Eagle River, the sauna represents the identity of Finnish immigrants who settled as farmers in the Eagle valley during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Wreck of the SS Whitesmith
- The SS Whitesmith was the last steamship built on Shuswap Lake.
- She offered weekly ferry service from Sicamous and Salmon Arm to outlying communities such as Eagle Bay, Seymour Arm and Anstey Arm from 1930-1935.
- The SS Whitesmith sank in 1941 when a broken piling of the old CPR coal dock punctured the side of the vessel.