Island Lecture Series: 鈥淐amping in the Backyard: Provincial Park Campgrounds and Island Tourism, 1945鈥�2000鈥� with Dr. Edward MacDonald
Join us on October 17, at 7 pm, in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI鈥檚 SDU Main Building for a lecture titled 鈥淐amping in the Backyard鈥� from Dr. Ed MacDonald, PEI historian and professor of history!
The historical literature on camping in the Western world has been preoccupied with the period between the mid-1800s and the Second World War. It maintains that well-heeled city dwellers camped in order to escape summers in North America鈥檚 dirty, polluted, high-stress cities and connect physically and emotionally with the wild Nature. But it was the postwar era and the gradual democratization of tourism that brought camping to the masses. And the experience on Prince Edward Island tells a different story about the motives behind, and the experience of, camping. Focusing particularly on the Island鈥檚 provincial parks, 鈥淐amping in the Backyard鈥� will unpack the rise and fall (and rise again) of camping in terms of the Island鈥檚 tourism industry.
Dr. MacDonald's lecture is part of the Institute of Island Studies' Island Lecture Series.
