Return to main Vanishing B.C. page Return to home page

Page last updated March 18, 2008

The McFarlane Farm, with its distinctive tobacco barn, at 3139 Benvoulin Road, built c. 1900

In the Benvoulin Road/Okanagan Mission area of Kelowna there is still, in spite of huge population growth and suburbanization, a great collection of historic farm buildings. Most significant are the Mission itself and the Carsorso farm from the 1880s. The former is a provincial heritage site, while the latter is privately owned--I don't know what its future prospects are.

Tobacco growing by the Oblate Fathers of Okanagan Mission was noted by travellers as early as 1863, and had its heyday around the beginning of the 20th century. Perhaps someone can add details on the life of the McFarlane family and on this property, which is one of a disappearing number of large holdings in the Benvoulin area.

(Historical information from Kelowna Heritage Resource Inventory, 1983, "Early Settlement and Land Use" section]