The free lecture focusing on how motorists shaped roadside attractions in the north is taking place Wednesday, Nov.6 at UNBC. Courtesy of UNBC

By Veronica Beltran

motorists helped shape the cariboo and northern BC

There’s history to the roadside attractions you drive by: UNBC free lecture

Nov 5, 2019 | 11:01 AM

PRINCE GEORGE–Have you ever been on the road, perhaps on your way to visit family in the Lower Mainland or heading north for work, and wondered about the roadside attractions you see along the highway?

Dr.Ben Bradley, a cultural and environmental historian of western Canada who has written extensively on car culture, parks and historic sites, will be examining the crucial role that motorists played in shaping the region’s landscapes and common experiences in his free lecture, Making Northern BC a Roadside Attraction: Automobility, Modernity, and Landscape Experience.

Courtesy of UNBC

The lecture will take place at the UNBC Teaching Lab Building on Wednesday, Nov.6 from 2:30-3:30 p.m., and will cover how the motoring public’s travel patterns, viewing habits and popular tastes affected the areas they passed through.

“Dr. Bradley will present a fascinating perspective linking the development of northern B.C. and the Cariboo to the consumer interests and needs of the motoring public. Such a unique perspective will be sure to inform and delight audience members,” says Erica Hernández-Read, Interim Head of the Northern B.C. Archives at UNBC.

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Courtesy of UNBC

Bradley’s current research projects include a history of roadside fruit stands in southern BC and socio-cultural history of (im)mobility and rural modernity in the Robson Valley and Yellowhead Pass.