On three or four acres of land and mostly surrounded by trees, the Little Prairie Heritage Museum shares a bit of the history of Chetwynd and surrounding areas. The outdoor displays consist primarily of transportation and agriculturally related machinery. In the collection are a BC Rail Caboose, reputed to have been on the end of the last train to pass through Chetwynd, a pair of Fairmont speeders, a threshing machine, several pieces of farm equipment, a vintage 1960s fire truck, a log trapper's cabin from the 1920s and several more implements within a chain wire enclosed building.
The main building, which houses a collection of smaller items relating to Chetwynd history, was once the Little Prairie General Store, built in Chetwynd in 1949. Chetwynd was once known as “Little Prairie”, but with the arrival of the Pacific Great Eastern Railroad (PGE) in 1957, the name was changed to Chetwynd in honor of the Minister in charge of railroads, Ralph Chetwynd. Hence the name of the general store, which was moved from the downtown area to the museum site.
We visited Chetwynd in June of 2019 in order to catch the
Chetwynd International Chainsaw Carving Championship , arriving on a cool, rainy day. Lamentably, the General Store building was not open and we spend as little time as possible touring the grounds in the rain.
Set in a very pastoral landscape, the museum grounds may be rented for private functions such as weddings, birthdays, family reunions and what not.
BTW - We would be remiss in not mentioning here the
Chainsaw Carvings of Chetwynd. Scattered liberally about the town are dozens and dozens and dozens of
absolutely magnificent chainsaw carvings from previous competitions, the collection itself a
superb excuse to visit Chetwynd. The city offers an online
Chainsaw Carving Tour Map of the carvings. Visiting each and every one is not something any of us could accomplish in a single day, or probably even two days!