Ireland Good, Collections Assistant, Point Ellice House Museum & Gardens Imagine a Sunday morning at your grandparents’ house: the sun is shining through the lace curtains and the smell of pancakes wafts through the air. You have nothing to do while you wait for your breakfast, so you go exploring. You begin to sift through …
Taeja Liu, Visitor Experience Assistant, Point Ellice House Museum & Gardens This summer, through my work as a summer student at Point Ellice House, I began transcribing some of the diaries of Kathleen O’Reilly (1867–1945); socialite, artist, gardener, and world traveler. I was curious about what Kathleen wrote, probably because all history nerds are a …
Christeah Dupont, Assistant Curator, Point Ellice House Museum & Gardens When the phone at Point Ellice House rings, it is usually someone calling to inquire about ourevents, hours, or sometimes they call asking for the meat department at Thrifty Foods (whichhappens to be one digit off from our telephone number). However there is another type …
Christeah Dupont, Assistant Curator, Point Ellice House Museum & Gardens Between March 2020 and September 2021, the inside of Point Ellice House was closed to the public. During this 19-month closure, staff and volunteers were not idle: digitization, transcription, reorganization of the collection, and restoration projects took place. As part of my usual duties as …
Tying the Rooms Together: Heritage Restoration at PEH Read More »
Dr. Kelly Black, Executive Director It seems like each week at Point Ellice House we uncover a mystery that needs solving or a new artifact to identify. This past October was no exception! As part of our ongoing rehabilitation of the South Garden, Fallingwater Property Services began a small project to clear and level an …
Brick by Brick: Uncovering the Past at Point Ellice House Read More »
Christeah Dupont, Curatorial Assistant & Jeannine Worthing, Visitor Services Coordinator Volunteers are a central part of the Point Ellice House Museum and Gardens team; they help maintain the gardens, act as interpreters for visitors, and assist with conservation of the house and its collection. With our temporary closure this past spring due to the COVID-19 …
Volunteering from Home: Transcription & Description of the Collection Read More »
Jeannine Worthing, Visitor Services Coordinator Among the many projects we have on the go at Point Ellice House, we are working on developing educational programming based on the BC Social Studies curriculum. One program we are excited about aims to teach classes about the history of food production and preparation by the O’Reilly family at …
Dr. Kelly Black, Executive Director Since the Vancouver Island Local History Society took over management of Point Ellice House in 2019, our approach has been to look beyond the house itself and connect the site and families with the wider history of Victoria, British Columbia, and the British Empire. When we drafted our business plan …
Dr. Kelly Black, Executive Director According to heritage garden expert Cyril Hume, the gardens at Point Ellice House are one of the best surviving examples of Victorian-era gardens in North America. The importance of the gardens is reflected in the site’s statement of significance; the gardens are a character defining element of heritage value, especially …
Rehabilitating the South Garden at Point Ellice House Read More »
Christeah Dupont, Curatorial Assistant As Point Ellice House undertakes its annual closure and visitor footsteps are no longer being heard creaking through the halls, one might think that the house sits quiet and empty until re-opening on the Family Day long weekend. However, the house is busy with activity! Christmas decorations are being removed, cleaning …
Hidden Treasures: Conducting an Inventory at Point Ellice House Read More »
