Unearthing Hidden Gems: Behind-The-Scenes of NHB Heritage Trails

A heritage trail marker at the site of the former Orchard Road Market.

While doing a recce at The Heeren shopping mall on Orchard Road, Ms Ruchi Mittal saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

No, it was not a queue for the latest smartphone or a jaw-dropping promotion. Instead, the officer from the National Heritage Board (NHB) had found a historical item she thought no longer existed: the original building’s torch sculptures that were built in 1931.

Traditional shophouses at Emerald Hill.

The sculptures stood on the rooftop of the original Heeren until the building was demolished in 1990. The building’s owners retained the torches and moved them to the rear entrance of the current building.

Walking the ground is just one way that the NHB’s Education & Community Outreach Division uncovers historical nuggets and stories of our nation’s heritage to develop walking trails of heritage across the island.

Remnants of the seawall at the former eastern shore in Bedok, 2016. Photo courtesy of the National Heritage Board.

The heritage trails are a way to share these long-lost gems with the public, says the team of five, which handles all things related to the trails, from development and maintenance to promotion and educational outreach.

“The highlight of every heritage trail project is when we uncover physical evidence of Singapore’s past,” Ms Mittal tells Challenge. One memorable encounter was when the team found remnants of the old seawalls indicating Singapore’s former eastern coastline, which is now part of the Bedok Heritage Trail.

Ms Ruchi Mittal, Ms Norsaleen Salleh and Mr Ian Lin from the NHB.

Ms Mittal’s visit to The Heeren in 2017 was part of the research for the Orchard Heritage Trail, the NHB’s 18th heritage trail, launched in August 2018. “We only realised the torch sculptures still existed after walking the ground,” she says.

The Orchard trail highlights lesser-known facts and stories of the famous shopping street. The content is designed for both locals and tourists, who increasingly want to “find out more about a place beyond the retail offerings”, says Ms Norsaleen Salleh, Deputy Director of the division.

Involving the community

To unearth interesting stories about Orchard, the NHB team first commissioned researchers, who pored through newspaper archives and material from the National Archives of Singapore (NAS). The researchers also interviewed people who lived or worked there for their social memories.

Left: Orchard Road Presbyterian Church, built in 1878. Right: Former Mission Chapel at Bras Basah, late 1800s, that was used by the Presbyterian congregation before the Orchard Road Presbyterian Church was built. Photos courtesy of the National Heritage Board.

“These human interest stories give a fuller picture of the place,” explains Ms Norsaleen. The interviewees are usually recommended by owners of buildings in the area, or their stories crowdsourced via a social media call for memories.

The NHB first included crowdsourced stories for the Tampines Heritage Trail. “It is through these ‘micro-histories’ contributed by Singaporeans that we are able to obtain a better and more multi-layered understanding of Singapore’s history,” she explains.

The 71 sites in the Orchard trail were chosen not just for how old they are, but for the range of stories and social memories associated with them. The NHB also consulted the Singapore Tourism Board and Urban Redevelopment Authority so that the heritage trail complements their Orchard Road blueprint.

Working with other parties

Besides gathering stories from building owners and the wider community, the NHB worked with groups like the Orchard Road Business Association, the National Parks Board (NParks) and Land Transport Authority.

With the involvement of different parties, the NHB had to be mindful of each party’s different considerations, says Ms Norsaleen. So the NHB had to be flexible and fine-tune plans along the way.

Contractors installing an Orchard Heritage Trail Marker.

For example, the team had planned to place a heritage trail marker on a concrete path to bring it nearer to pedestrians. These mark places of interest or provide more information along the walking trail.

But practical and safety concerns such as the risk of damaging the path (which belongs to the LTA) or the pipes running beneath it (which belong to national water agency PUB) meant the NHB team had to install the marker on a grass patch instead – with NParks’ supervision.

For trails located in housing estates, such as Tampines, the NHB teams up with the Housing & Development Board (HDB). An example of this partnership is timing the launch of heritage trails with the HDB’s Remaking Our Heartland initiative.

Keeping heritage fresh

From time to time, heritage trails get updated whenever new stories or information emerge. This could be when the archives digitise more information, or when more landmarks, sites and areas get added to the heritage trails.

The refresh of Balestier Heritage Trail, for example, was expanded to include the area near Tan Tock Seng Hospital. As a result, the NHB added the stories of people who have worked or lived nearby to the updated trail.

Sian Teck Tng (“Hall of Good Merit” in Teochew), a temple at Cuppage Road, 1983. Photo courtesy of the National Library Board.

“For every trail, there is always something interesting that our team discovers through our research and the community contributions… We have obtained photographs and stories from former kampong residents, and discovered rare, unpublished images from the NAS,” says Ms Norsaleen.

After all the hard work of discovering hidden stories, it’s important that people are able to enjoy them.

So while the heritage trails are available as self-guided walking tours, the NHB also ties up with schools. Under the Heritage Trail Adoption Scheme, students can “adopt” heritage trails near their schools and get training to be trail guides.

The entrance to Sian Teck Tng temple, 2017. Photo courtesy of the National Heritage Board.

By sharing stories of their chosen area with schoolmates or other visitors, they help spread the same magic the NHB team feels when they chance upon gems of Singapore’s past.

The Orchard Road Heritage Trail includes three recommended routes curated for people with different interests, from nature to history.

Text by Tay Qiao Wei.

Photos by Yip Siew Fei.