Year in review 2019: Point Roberts Historical Society

By Jessica McVey

The year 2019 was a very eventful one for the Point Roberts Historical Society. After 37 years, treasured historical items are making their way out from basements, attics and under beds, into the new History Center. In the first few months, old carpet and blinds were removed, cleaning walls and windows, having wood floors stripped, sealed and given a fresh coat of paint. We now had a beautiful empty space for your History Center.

First to go up, Judy Ross’ amazing abandoned house quilts, which brought even more warmth to the room. Truly stunning.

We knew we wanted a timeline, and lucky for us Mark Swenson was willing to work with us to edit his comprehensive timeline from his book, Point Roberts Backstory. It now covers our east wall.

A core group of Pauline DeHaan, Renée Coe, Mark Swenson and myself pulled collections together to display in our cases and photo swing panels.

Then came the question of how to display photos and paper archives to be viewed safely. We had many different ideas, all quite costly. Gordon Connor of the Ruth Morton Baptist Bible Camp generously donated the windows that originally came from the APA Cannery, which now house our collection along the east wall under the timeline.

The grand opening was August 31 and the turnout was way beyond our expectations. We have been blessed with visitors from around the world. We hosted our successful first annual Holiday Open House on November 23.

Thanks to all who have come by, please continue to do so, as we build your History Center. December hours are Sundays noon–3 p.m., Wednesdays 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and Saturdays noon–4 p.m. January through March we will be open Saturdays noon–4.

The Historical Society meets the third Wednesday of every month in the new History Center.