Canada
Barkerville
A Cariboo Gold Rush town preserved in amber, where costumed miners still pan the original claims.
Boardwalks creak underfoot in Barkerville, British Columbia, and somewhere ahead a blacksmith's hammer rings against an anvil. The entire town — over 125 buildings lining a Gold Rush main street — looks exactly as it did in the 1870s, right down to the horses tied to the hitching posts and the sourdough cooling on a windowsill.
Barkerville was the largest city in British Columbia during the Cariboo Gold Rush of the 1860s, and when the gold ran out, the town was simply left standing. Today it is one of the best-preserved Gold Rush towns in North America, with costumed interpreters living as their 1870s characters. The blacksmith forges real horseshoes. The baker sells sourdough from a wood-fired oven. The Theatre Royal stages period melodramas in a restored 1860s playhouse every summer. Gold panning in Williams Creek still produces flakes — the same creek that sparked the 1862 rush. The surrounding Cariboo Mountains offer hiking, mountain biking, and backcountry exploration through the mining trails that once connected Barkerville to the outside world.
Family
Children get to pan for real gold, watch a blacksmith work, and explore a living ghost town where history is played out in front of them — Barkerville makes the past tactile and exciting.
Couple
The atmospheric main street, the evening melodramas at the Theatre Royal, and the surrounding mountain trails make Barkerville a surprisingly romantic escape into another era.
- Over 125 original and restored buildings line the boardwalk main street of this Cariboo Gold Rush town, preserved since the 1860s.
- Costumed interpreters live as their 1870s characters year-round — the blacksmith forges real horseshoes, the baker sells sourdough.
- Gold panning in Williams Creek still produces flakes — the same creek that sparked the 1862 rush.
- The Theatre Royal stages period melodramas every summer in a restored 1860s playhouse.
Sourdough bread from the Wake Up Jake bakery — the recipe dates to 1862.
Gold-rush era meat pies from the Goldfield Bakery, eaten on the wooden boardwalk.
Saskatoon berry pie baked using the same recipe the miners' wives used.
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