By Blair Qualey, President and CEO, New Car Dealers Association of BC
Spring has officially arrived in British Columbia, bringing with it warmer temperatures, blooming landscapes, and the perfect excuse to hit the road. Whether you’re planning a long weekend getaway or a spontaneous day trip, this time of year is the best time to explore some of our historical province’s most curious and charming roadside attractions.
British Columbia is home to some truly offbeat gems. The Kootenays are home to a wide variety of quirky places and communities. Take the Glass House in Boswell, perched above the east shore of scenic Kootenay Lake. Built in the 1950s from more than 500,000 embalming fluid bottles, this eccentric home is a testament to one man’s creative reuse of materials and remains one of the most offbeat tourist stops in the province.
For the history buff in your family, consider driving to one of the many ghost towns that dot BC’s backroads, where you’ll be able to explore the remnants of gold rushes, railway expansions, and boomtown dreams. The historic site of Fairview near Oliver was once billed as the largest city north of San Francisco, but today, little remains beyond a restored jail building and a peaceful cemetery. However, its story continues to attract history enthusiasts and curious travelers.
Then there’s Quesnel Forks, deep in the Cariboo region, which once played a key role in the gold rush and is now preserved by local volunteers as an open-air museum of pioneer-era buildings. Similarly, the ghost town of Eholt near Grand Forks offers only subtle traces of what was once a lively railway hub. Another lesser-known stop is Fisherville in the East Kootenays, where visitors can wander the ruins of what was once a gold rush town founded during the Wild Horse Creek boom. Unlike some ghost towns that have vanished entirely, Fisherville remains a designated National Historic Site, and walking through it is like stepping into a different century.
Of course, not all roadside stops in BC are rooted in history. On Pender Island, a uniquely charming quirk awaits drivers and pedestrian travelers: a network of “Car Stops” designed to encourage safe and friendly hitchhiking. Marked with green-and-white signs, the initiative began in 2008 and is still going strong, showing how even remote communities in our vast province are finding creative ways to stay connected.
And while some attractions offer a deep dive into history, others are simply there to delight and provide a fun photo shoot opportunity for your social media. Cariboo Sam in Cache Creek is a cheerful wooden gold miner statue that greets drivers headed into the heart of BC’s interior. Cinephiles can’t miss a photo with the Rambo statue in Hope, where the original film was shot, the live goats grazing on the roof of the Coombs market on Vancouver Island, or the fairytale-like Enchanted Forest near Revelstoke. There’s also the giant cross-country ski in McBride, the towering cuckoo clock in Kimberley (recently refurbished and looking better than ever!), and what’s believed to be the world’s largest fly fishing rod in Houston, BC.
All of these stops serve as reminders that BC’s highways are more than just routes from point A to point B. They’re pathways through our province’s rich, colourful, and occasionally eccentric history.
As always, we encourage British Columbians to explore safely. Whether you’re packing up for a long weekend or planning a summer road trip, take time to slow down, stop often, and discover something unexpected. You never know what you’ll find just on the side of the road.
Blair Qualey is President and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of BC. You can email him at [email protected].
