Alberta Tour Part 2 – Donalda, Big Knife Prov Park

As mentioned in my last post, a buddy and I recently went on a three day tour of a number of small towns in central Alberta to photograph some old buildings.

Our next stop was the village of Donalda. Named for the niece of a Canadian Northern Railway official, the village was established in 1911. It was one of many communities that popped up along railway lines throughout the Prairies. Following a great lunch at the Coulee Tea House, we photographed a couple of buildings on Main Street and “the world’s largest lamp”.

Donalda is home to the “worlds largest lamp replica”, standing 42′ tall. It is located at the end of Main Street overlooking the Meeting Creek Coulee The village museum also hosts the worlds largest collection of oil lamps.

We ended the day in Big Knife Provincial Park on the banks of the Battle River. Rather than photographing buildings here, we hiked a short distance (about 1.5 km each way) to an area dotted with small hoodoo-like rock formations. It was a nice, relaxing way to end the day before carrying on to Stettler for the night.

In Part 3, we’ll start the day in Big Valley.