Campbell Historical Museum staffer and local historian Barney Terrell believes exercise and history pair very well. So he’ll be leading a walking tour of the downtown on Oct. 21, sharing historical tidbits along the way.

The free tour will start by Blue Line Pizza, 415 E. Campbell Ave., and conclude just down the street near Campbell Brewing Company. The tour starts at 10 a.m. and will last roughly 30-45 minutes.

“This was something I thought would be a lot of fun,” Terrell says, adding that this is the third tour he’s done this year.

The tour focuses on the years 1910-1940, with an emphasis on the downtown core’s architecture and the history surrounding many of the buildings. For example, the Celtic Shoppe at 354 E. Campbell Ave. was where the first beer in Campbell was sold after Prohibition ended, Terrell says.

This is one of the many stories Terrell likes to fit into his walks. He says he likes to add new information as well as fun facts to each of the tours. He also provides insight into the lives of the people who owned businesses in the Orchard City.

“The relationships between the families that owned the canneries are pretty interesting,” Terrell says, adding that there are some rumored stories about the families and their competitiveness.

Terrell, a former high school history teacher, says the inspiration for leading the walking tours comes from his old job, and a personal interest in learning about the city he’s been a resident of for nine years.

“I always wanted to get into museum work after I left teaching, and I like to learn about where I’m at more than anything else,” he says, adding that when he was a teacher he’d suggest students go to local cemeteries and look at the names and dates on tombstones to learn about people who were part of their city or town.

Terrell says he’d like to add new tours to different parts of the city. He says he’d like to do some where the founding families built homes for their extended family and at the former Campbell High School, which is now the city’s community center.

Additionally, he says he’d like to take people on tours in the Dry Creek neighborhood where orchards and ranches once stood.

“I think Campbell is one of the few places in the South Bay that has a distinct identity to it,” he says.

For more information about the tour, visit bit.ly/2y1wQqY