A fully illustrated social history profiling forty historic hotels spread over five regions of the southern interior of British Columbia, covering the time period of the 1890s to 1950s. Room at the Inn reveals the long-forgotten histories of British Columbia’s early hospitality industry, through the riveting stories of the men and women who built, ran, and frequented hotels, hostelries, resorts, and roadhouses in the southern Interior. From the Similkameen town of Keremeos to Spences Bridge at the confluence of the Thompson and Nicola Rivers, east to the Alberta border along the Trans-Canada Highway, and south to the Canada–US border, the history of these hotels mirrors the history of BC’s mining towns and boom-bust economy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as waves of prospectors, settlers, and eventually tourists shaped the culture of the province that we know today. Of the forty historic hotels profiled in this book, all contributed to their communities in various ways. They provided more than just a roof over the heads of weary travellers; they were often the sites of live entertainment, places where community members could meet and socialize. Some even doubled as makeshift hospitals during wildfires and floods. Through colourful anecdotes, meticulous research, and fascinating archival photography, Room at the Inn transports readers to a bygone era and pays tribute to the pioneers, entrepreneurs, and hard-work men and women who built and operated these historic accommodations.
In 1885, Vancouver Island’s E&N rail service carried coal to smelters and ships, and the towns in the railway’s path prospered as the tracks expanded. Along the E&N celebrates the historic and still-surviving hotels and roadhouses that sprung up near the E&N. Within this carefully researched historical narrative, you’ll find stories of the halfway house in the Esquimalt District, the murder and suicide at the Mt Sicker Hotel, and the iconic Quinsam Hotel in Campbell River, burned down in 2017. Peppered with stories of patrons and proprietors alike, this book chronicles the history of sixty hotels—most long gone, destroyed by fire, or simply demolished. Featuring some of the old hotels remodelled into modern-day neighbourhood pubs—such as the Rod & Gun, the Fanny Bay Inn, the Shady Rest, the Cumberland Pub, and the Waverley Pub—Along the E&N resonates with the haunting echoes of the train’s iconic whistle.
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