And Now For Something Completely Different

No views of mountains, valleys or lakes today. The last photo in yesterday's post aroused our curiosity, and we decided to investigate today.

But as we leave the driveway of our rental home, we are greeted by a couple of youngsters and none other than Bambi himself.

But now on to our quest. Was that a church, a school house or both?
Turns out it's a church and is part of a Heritage Site called O'Keefe Ranch.

This brief description tells part of the story.

The Post Master's Counter

The General Store that housed the post office. Sound familiar? Like the Shoppers / Canada Post scenario.

What we thought would be a quick stop at this location, turned into a 3.5 hours history lesson. 

Our guide provided a brief history of the O'Keefe family, the mansion and the community the ranch helped spawn.

Formal Dining Room - Used with guests only.

The Master Bedroom

One of the children's rooms. Note that Cornelius was father to 17 children with 3 different wives.
His last child was born when he was 76 years old.

The Guest Room

The cooks quarters. Basically a one room shack located behind the mansion.

The Community School House

These rules for female and male teachers are worth a read.

At it's peak, the ranch spanned about 15,000 acres, but was gradually sold off to accommodate the settlement of the area. A much smaller property and the mansion remained in O'Keefe family hands until 1977. For a man with a grade 3 education who struggled to read and write, old Cornelius did pretty well.

A few photos of other displays and artifacts at the heritage site follow...

Note where this engine was manufactured.

Also note the origin of this wood stove.

If someone were to ask what they should see if visiting the Vernon area, I would definitely recommend a stop the O'Keefe Ranch.