Video

The Story of the Irving House as told by Rob McCullough

In this episode of the Gold Rush Trail storyteller series, we have the pleasure of meeting Rob McCullough who is the Manager of Museums & Heritage Services for the city of New Westminster. Here, he joins us from the large parlour of Irving House, a heritage building that was originally built in 1865 for riverboat captain, William Irving. Rob shares the story of William and his family, making a point to note that as the Irving family was part of the gold rush’s wealthy and colonial demographic, their stories are what frequent our history books the most. Rob explains that while the Irving House offers visitors a glimpse into colonial life in New Westminster during the gold rush, there are lots of lesser-known stories of other populations who also greatly impacted this time period that we must actively work to uncover. We encourage you to learn more about these populations by reading our history page.