Historic Shilo and Sweet Caroline, AB

Summer of Storms

Alternate summer title: summer of visiting museums! Last week we took a quick trip to the town of Caroline, AB. Home of Kurt Browning, The Wheels of Time Museum and some friendly people.

This trip was a 2 for 1! Near Caroline is Shilo School. It was open from 1910-1952 and was designated an Alberta Historic Site in 2011. I noticed that the grounds and adjoining baseball field were recently mowed and it looked like baseball game could break out at any moment. I was told the occasional event still takes place here.

My son ran off to try the door at the school while I was taking photos around the ball diamond. I didn't expect the door of the school to be unlocked, but it was. We took a quick peek inside and left without disturbing anything. It's well taken care of inside and someone took the time to list the names of the pupils on the blackboard as well as the history of the school district.

Looky, no touchy

Batter Up!

Swing batter batter, swing!

Convenient stairs from the ball diamond
into the canola field...

Next Stop, the Wheels of Time Museum. We were the only ones there and got a guided tour by the museum interpreter, John. He was great and made it even more fun for myself and Hayden! He even stayed past closing time to finish the tour with us. Check it out if you're in the area, admission is by donation. I always leave something to help keep these great places operating.

The main building, which is the old Caroline School, had some neat artifacts including an old recording device that I hadn't seen before. Also, be sure to grab an ice cream treat while you are there and get a photo with a life sized Kurt Browning cutout. I did not take a selfie with Kurt.

I was too busy listening to John and didn't take any inside photos of the buildings! You can view some on their website if interested, by clicking here.  Here are the buildings and other things we saw on the tour:

Big Bend School.
Originally located about a 1/2 hour east

Teacherage: very cozy (tiny) 

Log home and trappers cabin

We were framed!!

Behind the museum is a nature walk..we followed the path for a bit. There were neat bird houses in the trees along the path. The path became less distinguishable as we got further so we detoured to a campsite, in the adjacent RV Park, and headed back to the museum.

In conclusion, my parting gift to you, if this wasn't already in your head...it will be now.