Living in
Summerland, BC

Long before Europeans arrived, the Syilx people of the Okanagan Nation — whose traditional territory spans over 69,000 square kilometres from present-day Revelstoke south into Washington State — lived seasonally across this land. They followed the rhythms of the valley: harvesting bitterroot common in what is now Summerland, fishing the salmon runs at Okanagan Falls, and travelling ancient trade routes through the interior. The Okanagan Fur Brigade Trail running through the district had been used by the Syilx for an estimated 6,000 years before fur traders arrived.

European contact came gradually through the fur trade in the early 1800s. The first non-Indigenous encampment in the area — Priest Camp at Garnett Lake — was established in 1845 along the Brigade Trail, later commemorated as the only preserved encampment of the historic Okanagan Brigade Trail. By the 1880s, settlers began pre-empting land and planting the valley’s first orchards; the first commercial operation went in at Trout Creek in the 1890s, when the area still bore that name.

The name Summerland appeared in 1902 with the opening of a post office on Okanagan Lake’s shores. The same year, CPR president Sir Thomas Shaughnessy purchased the Barclay Ranch and formed the Summerland Development Company, envisioning an elite fruit-farming colony targeting English aristocracy and retired military officers. He promoted the district aggressively as a gentleman’s orchard destination — an identity that stuck, even as the community grew far beyond that vision.

Summerland was incorporated as a district municipality in 1906. A 1922 fire destroyed much of Lower Town along the lakeshore, shifting the commercial centre to West Summerland (today’s downtown). Agriculture dominated for much of the 20th century, but over the past two decades wineries have transformed the local economy. Today Summerland is home to approximately 12,600 residents and one of Canada’s most celebrated wine regions.