THE SOUTH OKANAGAN HERITAGE ALLIANCE

The Summerland Museum is proud to be a member of SOHA and help promote all the wonderful history that abounds in the South Okanagan. Visit us all soon and experience the Pioneer Spirit of Four Okanagan Communities; your gateway to our living legacy!

• Steam along a section of a historic railway
• Enjoy a stay in a fabulous 1907 heritage inn
• Wander the spectacular decks of a 1914 sternwheeler
• Spend time in a 1906 pioneer home
• Encounter the people who championed the growth of these communities at the Summerland, Penticton and Okanagan Falls Museums.

Kettle Valley Steam Railway

Enjoy a two hour journey on one of British Columbia's few remaining fully operational steam railways! Built between 1910 and 1915, the line once stretched from Midway to Hope but now just ten miles (16 kilometres) of this historic rail line remain. Striking vistas, rock cuts and natural landscapes are found along the route and then the train travels onto the Trout Creek Bridge 238 ft (73 metres) above the canyon floor. Powered by a restored 1912 locomotive, the 3716 or a 1924 Shay, take in the sights and be entertained in a 1950's passenger coach or an open-air car.

The En'owkin Centre

The En’owkin Centre provides an exciting opportunity to visit Canada’s only National Aboriginal Arts Training Centre as well as Theytus Books, Canada’s oldest Aboriginal publishing house. The uniquely designed building reflecting an Okanagan traditional dwelling is also the starting point for guided group tours to ECOmunity Place, home to a large diversity of rare and endangered species and a Cotton wood riparian restoration project

SS Sicamous & Okanagan Inland Marine Heritage Park

The S.S. Sicamous, the largest remaining steel-hulled stermwheeler in Canada, is located on the southern shores of Lake Okanagan in Penticton. Built in 1914, she plied the waters of Okanagan Lake until 1936, from her Penticton homeport. She was the epitome of luxury and utility as she had exceptional passenger, mail and freight service.
Step into the world of transportation in the early 1900s and see the 1914 SS Sicamous Sternwheeler, 1914 SS Naramata Tugboat, and 1907 SS Okanagan Stern Saloon.

Penticton R.N. Atkinson Museum

Experience the tumultuous lives of the gold seekers and railway men and envision the sternwheelers that ran up and down the waterways of the Okanagan. Explore our fine displays of pioneer life, natural history, military artifacts and First Nations collections. The extensive archives are available for researchers of local and regional history.

Bassett House & Okanagan Falls Museum

The Basset family had a stagecoach and freight hauling business in the South Okanagan at the turn of the century and brought in the prefabricated house possibly from Winnipeg in 1906. It was shipped by rail, then by paddlewheel steamer down the lake to Okanagan Falls, then by horse-drawn wagons. It was originally assembled not far from where it is now located, at the Museum and Heritage site in Okanagan Falls.

To the Top