Monday, November 16, 2015

Summerland

ABC Wednesday
November 18th, 2015

The letter is S for Summerland

"There no cloud shall dim the sky, in that happy home on high,
In that heavenly Summer Land, in that heavenly Summer Land."
excerpt from a spiritualist hymn

Said to have been the inspiration for the name of the town, certain to
 entice settlers to come west to a heavenly Summerland 
(and there were a lot of Baptists in early Summerland!)


and still are....  here is the Baptist church - a fine
church with a great men's choir in which our oldest son sings !


Originally the area was called Nicola Prairie after Grand Chief Nicola of the Okanagan Nation - successful hunter/gathers who had been in the area for many hundreds of years.

A few major First Nations trails passed through Nicola Prairie in the early days, and
they were used by fur traders and later miners on their way to the gold rush.
The excellent grasslands along the route attracted ranchers and orchardists.

The first Summerland town site was incorporated in 1906, on Okanagan Lake
where the sternwheeler boats delivered goods and people imported fruit to market.
When the population ran out of growing room houses and businesses began
appearing on the flat lands above and a land deal was negotiated with the First Nation's
people from Siwash Flat, making room for a new townsite which became the
Summerland of today, - a pretty and cheerful town with leafy boulevards and
a wonderful combination of history, arts, culture, wineries, and the fruit industry.

An  extinct volcanic mountain dominates the skyline - Giant's Head, so named
because of it's resemblance to a face on one side of the mountain.


The clay cliffs that line the road leading to Summerland from Penticton
make a magnificent entrance.


The town itself is surrounded by sumptuous orchards and wineries



Lots of wineries!!!


There is a self-guided walking tour of the original town site on the shores of Okanagan Lake,
and more up Giant's Head and in the surrounding hills.

Summerland is the site of a provincial Agricultural Research Station,
with beautiful lawn and gardens - a lovely place to picnic and explore.


There is a Marina and sail boats to accompany it....



Zia's restaurant in an old stone house of pioneer vintage, where we love to lunch or dine....


The main street...


and the piece de resistance - a steam railway!!!


 The Spirit of Summerland

A restored 1912 steam locomotive pulls the combination of vintage rail cars and open observation cars through the farmland of Prairie Valley, around the base of Giant's Head Mountain, ending on Trout Creek Bridge, the tallest on the KVR at 240 feet, 
providing excellent views of Trout Creek Canyon.


There are special events from May until September featuring a Great Train Robbery
and at Christmas the Train Morphs into a Santa Express.

Videos below that celebrate these events.....







Summerland is within travelling distance for tea, here in Keremeos!!


Click here for more great Ss with thanks to Roger and Denise
and all helpers, saintly or sinful.

Photos all from Sir Google

18 comments:

ellen b. said...

Looks like a beautiful place to visit or live in...
Thanks for all the history and info!

Berowne said...

Very impressive; thanx for sharing.

Powell River Books said...

Sounds like a fun place to visit with lots of things to do. We almost headed to the Okanagan last summer but ended up going over to Vancouver Island instead. From Powell River it takes a day just to get down to Vancouver with both of the ferries, not to mention the cost. - Margy

Unknown said...

Thank you for taking me on this trip... loved it, wonderful photos


Have a nice abc-day/- week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc.-w-team)

The Weaver of Grass said...

What a beautiful place Hildred. Every time you post pictures of your country I am reminded why the farmer and I love it so much.

Reader Wil said...

I enjoyed the train ride with the train robbers! Thanks for an entertaining post
Wil, ABCWTeam

Powell River Books said...

Thanks for stopping by to comment on my Sitka Spruce post. My research says that the variety in the Interior is the White Spruce. Where the two varieties come in contact the can hybridize and become a Lutz Spruce. I thought that was interesting because that's my last name. - Margy

photowannabe said...

Summerland looks so inviting. I think I would like to visit there.

Rajesh said...

Fabulous shots of the place. Beautiful and scenic.

Roger Owen Green said...

Looks like a lovely locale.

ROG, ABCW

Mascha said...

Summerland - it sounds inviting and friendly.
Great photoseries and nice to see in the first, that they have winter too ;-)

Nicola Finch said...

How delightful Mum. All of your posts for 'ABC' but these BC place names especially. I'm really enjoying them. So neat to learn the original name for Summerland was Nicola Prairie. And so many other things I've learned from this series of post. Thanks Mum.

Deepa said...

Lovely pictures

Leslie: said...

LOVE your photos, especially the one of the lake and the wineries!

Leslie
abcw team

Joy said...

Sounds delightful, I smiled at your choice of a snowy photograph for the first view of Summerland. Steam trains and snow always make a super picture in the video. It will soon be time for my local steam railway to run its Santa Specials but as we are not as hardy as Canadians there will definitely be no open carriages for us softies.

EG CameraGirl said...

How lovely to live in a place where the spirit of summer never ends!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...


It's a perfect name for what is obviously a wonderful town -- it would entice me. Have any of your great-grands taken the Santa express? The restaurant looks like an elegant place for a meal or tea -- and I bet that choir is wonderful!







And oh I am sure all the helpers on this fine meme are saints ;>)

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

powerful.