Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie

Back when built close to a hundred and forty years ago, they called it Loganston. Out on the lonely Saskatchewan Plains, it’s a stone house, craftsman built, elegant in design and of which we’re in awe. The effort and skill that went into it is incredible! Empty and abandoned now,...

It’s five words seen time and again in the comments section of our website and our social media accounts when we post about an abandoned farm or ranch house: “if these walls could talk”. And it most certainly applies here. Take in this little stone house, abandoned on the remote...

We’re in one of the more sparsely populated areas of Alberta and even for us, people used to being alone, it feels isolated and remote. There’s not a soul about. So what’s located here? Let’s see…there’s the boundless plains, a single occupied dwelling, a few trees, the only ones for...

Almost a year ago we were given the opportunity to visit three little churches south of Calgary all connected to the same group. Just a short distance away from a million plus folks, each is hidden away in a pleasant small town or rural setting that feels far removed from...

This unending search for abandoned places has us visiting the Bishop House, well hidden away and in surprisingly good condition given the last residents lived in decades ago. It’s mostly empty inside and while the paint’s peeling and plaster falling away in places, it’s easy to imagine that with a...

Had they not been made of concrete, we suspect these remains would otherwise be long gone and the place but a distant memory. Here it’s massive walls and foundations, a monument to the past, when the railway was the driving force of the economy and stream locomotives were king. In...

Saskatchewan has us enamoured. With much history to explore and friendly folks, it’s a place to catch one’s breath, feel at home and revel in its sheer (and sometimes stark) beauty. There’s broad fields of gold, a charming street in some little village or stand there and stare at an...

They immigrated from all over Europe to work in Canada’s coal mines, something demonstrated by taking in the cemetery in Nordegg Alberta. The varied names found here reflect the numerous countries from which long ago they came – Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Poland and more. When calls a new life...

It’s been wiped off the face of the earth. Where once there was hope and promise, now it’s little more than an empty field. If not for close inspection it’d be easy to miss, but underfoot are subtle reminders of what was. Here’s a row of cellar-pits where buildings once...

It’s an old shed down on the farm, something utterly plain and utilitarian, right? Even to us folks always on the lookout for hidden history (so us), it’s worth no more than a passing glance…bet it’s full of spiders too! Then on closer examination – a reminder to always do...

We’ve sat on this one for a long time. When you have dozens of posts coming down the pipes some things are bound to get set aside for later. In the interim we’ve been doing research about the place as time permits, digging, prying and asking around but so far...

There’s not many of these little corner stores left. Where as long ago you could find them in nearly every “old” neighbourhood across the country, they have been in decline for decades. Finding one today is a rare delight and in Calgary, the few that are still in business can...

We’re equally at home in the mountains as we are the prairies. It’s all a wonderful playground of fun and learning, each with its own unique personality. Here’s a subject deep in the Alberta Rockies of Banff Park, well “Off the Beaten Path” an old Ranger’s Cabin that this day...