Social Studies Field Trip

Last night, I was posting some pictures on my Facebook account, from Hallow e'en, and other recent events, when suddenly a great Social Studies field trip idea popped into my mind...and I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier!
On Hallow e'en night, my boyfriend and I ventured out on one of those 'ghostly tours' of Victoria. These tours are one hour long, and take you through the historic and apparently haunted streets of our beautiful city. The tours run throughout the year, not only during Hallow e'en, so if you wanted to take a class of students on a tour during the warmer months, that is an option. The tour guide was awesome-he was dressed up in an old fashioned costume, and had so many interesting facts and unique stories regarding the 'ghosts of Victoria.' The tour is quite inexpensive, only $10 with a valid student card, and I'm sure there are special group rates, especially if it was school related.
The tour brought us through Old Town, the area of Bastion Square, and Fort Street, near Temple. It was so cool to get a tour throughout the winding alleys and back streets of Victoria, through places that I never knew existed, even while I walked right past them. What makes this tour especially relevant to Social Studies, is that all of the stories are from "historic Victoria," discussing issues such as the poor treatment of Chinese immigrants, stories from the gold rush era, public hangings, and burials, and how much child-labour laws have evolved since this time.
I found myself completely engrossed in the tour, both for it's "scariness," as well as for its historical background. I looked up the ghostly tour information online, and discovered that there are other similar ghost tours that you can participate in throughout Victoria, including a ghost tour of Chinatown.
I think this is the type of thing that could be really well received by students, so long as it was age and content appropriate, and if parents and administration agreed.
Sometimes the best museums are hidden, within our own backyards.
http://www.discoverthepast.com/