Dunnottar Station Museum

2010 raffle fund raiser quilt 50" x 50"

2010 raffle fund raiser quilt 50" x 50"

station

Remembering the role of the CPR Beach Trains

A group of enthusiastic local volunteers are refurbishing an over one hundred year old CPR Beach Station.  They have recently constructed a Platform Shelter and Tool Shed using original blue print CPR plans.  A growing collection of railway artifacts and community memorabilia are displayed inside these buildings.  A great new place to take pictures for your own family archives.

These beach train stations played a very prominent role in the travel plans of the original vacationers to this area.  Whether out for the day or for the summer, in the beginning most vacationers arrived by train.  Since 1903 the trains brought passengers, supplies and mail.  The post offices in the  grocery stores were located near the three beach stations . There were several trains traveling these tracks each day bringing all the merchandise and building supplies needed to develop all the year round communities north of Selkirk.

In 1947 the three beach communities of Ponemah, Whytewold and Matlock were incorporated as the Village of Dunnottar. The Village of Dunnottar was named after Dunnottar Castle in Scotland by Mr Alex Melville,  a  Scottish immigrant who came and summered in Ponemah  in 1902.   The museum is officially designated a not-for-profit project by the Community Places Program of the Government of Manitoba.

The fun part of visiting the museum during weekend summer hours is the docents (interpreters) stories and tales of  life of the olden days and the history of the area.  They rely heavely on stories related to them by visitors.

Every year we are the recipients of more items of interest. This year we were given maps and memorabilia along with albums of photos from the early 1900’s.

The art form of story telling is alive and having fun at the station.

It is also a  GPS  Geocache site hosted by Interlake Tourism Association of Manitoba.

Station Hours:    Summer only  10:00 am to 4:00 pm Weekends

or by appointment.