Smack dab in the middle of Summerland rises a large rock outcropping called Giant's Head Mountain. How and when it arrived in these parts will be told shortly. But how did it come to be known as the Giant's Head?

The rock's face which looks southeast (quite clear as one travels up Gartrell Road) resembles a man's profile and some people back in the early days of Summerland thought it most resembled Lord Shaftesbury. He was an empire builder who lived in England in the seventeenth century and led a group of dissidents within the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) who encouraged the Company to live up to their 1670 Royal Charter. The HBC had been created on paper as a colonizing agency, not just a trading company, and was supposed to promote settlement in Rupert's Land (later to be called Canada), but to Lord Shaftesbury's dismay, this didn't seem to be happening and it actually wouldn't happen in his lifetime.

The first official record of the name Giant's Head was in the field notes of Survey Lot Number 2561 which takes in most of the mountain. This land was pre-empted at about the turn of the century by one of Summerland's early land developers, James Ritchie. (However his wife Margaret claims that when she arrived in town everyone referred to the mountain as the Lion's Head.) William Fosbery, who was also around at the time, said that old-timers did not use the name Giant's Head and only before the "beard" eroded away did it really resemble Lord Shaftesbury.

Another story suggests the name came about as the result of an argument between the sons of early rancher George Barclay. They couldn't agree on whom the profile most resembled, one insisting that it really did look like Lord Shaftesbury and the other Barclay claiming that it was the spitting image of Lord Gladstone, British statesman and prime minister. In the end they compromised on the name Giant's Head because they conceded that both men were very prominent and highly thought-of leaders - giants, as it were!

Geologically speaking, Giant's Head Mountain is a giant roche moutonnee. This is a ground-down knob carved and “plucked” by the re-freezing of a glacier, which pulls loosened rock from the main body of the rock at the base of the moving glacier. It is typically striated or has grooves in the rock and also has a gentle slope facing the up-stream direction of the ice movement. In this case, the glacial plucking produced the "face" on the south side.

There's not a lot of mention of the Giant's Head in Summerland's archives. One reference to him was made in a story about the local celebrations in Memorial Park for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Writes author Kathleen Fitzgerald (1973): "As dusk was settling over the hills on that memorable day, all eyes were drawn irresistibly to Summerland's guardian who had been watching the day's proceedings with his usual passive countenance. The hour had arrived for his participation in the events. And so it was that two signal fires flared up on either side of the Giant's Head Mountain - links in the chain of beacons forged by Scouts all over the Commonwealth of Nations." Ms. Fitzgerald also mentioned his appearance at a Saturday night Street Fair when, as the town darkened, "a voice boomed through a megaphone the thrilling news that the GIANT himself was coming down off the mountain on his annual pilgrimage... Flood lamps revealed that such was the case, as the large and awe-inspiring frame came slowly and majestically down off the mountain, down that long shoelace of a road that leads from the Home of the Friendless [old college site]. The Giant's realistic head was nailed to high scaffolding, the whole being guided down the mountain by two men. Intrigue ended at the base of the hill, so we all said goodnight and went home…"

Over the years the mountain became a focal point for the town. The Chamber of Commerce adopted its likeness for its letterhead and it appeared on the crest of the town's Coat of Arms accompanied by the motto "A Giant in Stature". There was a Giant's Head Theatre Company in the seventies, a local realtor chose Giant's Head for its name, and the third elementary school built in the district is Giant's Head School. For Canada's Centennial in 1967, the site at the top of the mountain became Giant's Head Park, and a winding road was completed to its summit. A picnic area and washroom facilities were built at the park and a marker and time capsule (to be opened in 2067) were dedicated at its peak.