Naramata was a real estate project by John Moore Robinson, an Englishman from Brighton. The Robinson brothers saw a great opportunity in the UK to appeal to the Gentleman Farmer of the turn-of-the-century. They purchased great tracts of land in the deltas of small creeks and sub-divided them into fruit farms for the well-to-do British upper crust. Thus the towns of Peachland, Summerland, Appledale (Jones Flats) and Naramata were created.

In 1905 Naramata was originally called East Summerland, but the confusion was obvious to all, so Mr. Robinson, now a resident; thought it would be nice to call the place “Brighton Beach” in honor of his family’s roots in England. Read the rest of this entry »

His sister, Gracie, called him “Huddy”; but his friends called him “Harry”. Huddy Hudson was Penticton’s foremost photographer from 1906 to 1916.

Mr. Hudson left Scarborough, England with his sister to meet up with her fiancé, Harold Willis, in the small village of Kelowna, right in the middle of nowhere. Huddy’s parents had insisted that he accompany her, as a Lady of the Victorian era did not travel alone. He had protested at first, but after some deep thought and the fact he hated his brewers assistant job, he decided to take the trip. After all, he could take photographs with his plate camera along the way. Read the rest of this entry »

In 1900 freighting had its challenges in the South Okanagan-Similkameen Valley. The horse was king, but the road was god, and more than often the road ruled. Hal Tweddle ran a stage coach to Keremeos and Hedley from 1895 to 1910. The trip to Keremeos took two days and the trip to Princeton took four days, one way! Read the rest of this entry »