Pender Harbour is a harbour community on

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

's Sunshine Coast, on the east side of

Malaspina Strait Malaspina Strait is a strait in the northern Gulf of Georgia- Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It separates Texada Island from the upper Sunshine Coast-Malaspina Peninsula area on the adjacent mainland. The strait and the penin ...

. The harbour itself is an intricate amalgam of bays and coves that encroach inland for five kilometres and provide over 60 kilometres of shoreline. Once a steamer stop, a fishing village, and an important logging and medical waypoint,http://www.penderharbourheritage.ca/about.html Pender Harbour Living Heritage Society it is now an unincorporated community within the

Sunshine Coast Regional District The Sunshine Coast Regional District is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southern mainland coast, across Georgia Strait (part of the Salish Sea) from Vancouver Island. It borders on the qathet Regional Distri ...

(SCRD).

Pender Harbour view from Irvines Landing

Pender Harbour's population is under 3,000, with over 40% of property owners being non-resident (one of them

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

, since the early 1970s). It includes the small villages of

Madeira Park Madeira Park is an unincorporated community in the area of Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is named after the pioneer Jose Goncalos, a native of the Madeira Islands ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthe ...

, Garden Bay, Irvine's Landing, and Kleindale. Tourism is an important part of the local economy. The area has an arts community and several annual music festivals. It hosts the second-oldest May Day celebration in British Columbi

and the biggest and longest-running downhill Longboard (skateboard), longboard race in Canada, Attack of Danger Bay.

Name origin

Pender Harbour was named in 1860 by Captain G.H. Richards, RN, in honour of

Daniel Pender Daniel Pender was a Royal Navy Staff Commander, later captain, who surveyed the Coast of British Columbia aboard , and from 1857 to 1870. Pender was recorded as the second master of the admiralty survey vessel, HMS ''Plumper'', in 1857 when h ...

, RN ( - 1891). Pender arrived on the coast as second master of the survey vessel '' Plumper'' on 9 November 1857. He later served as master of the ''Plumper'' and the ''

Hecate Hecate or Hekate, , ; grc-dor, Ἑκάτᾱ, Hekátā, ; la, Hecatē or . is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicte ...

'', and commander of the ''

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

'' (hired from the Hudson's Bay Company for hydrographic work) from 1863-70. He was subsequently an assistant at the Hydrographic Office in London from 1871-84.

History

Before the first Europeans discovered the area, a vibrant population of First Nations equaled or doubled its current number of inhabitants. Sex'wamin, the Shishalh winter settlement centred on Garden Bay, was likely one of the largest on the British Columbia coast. It is estimated that over 5,000 First Nations people lived in longhouses on the shore near where the Garden Bay Hotel now sits. The Shishalh vacated Pender Harbour and relocated to summer villages up the inlets of Jervis, Salmon, and Narrow. Theirs was the opposite of current migration patterns, which see Pender Harbour's population swell in the summer and thin during the winter.

References

{{reflist
Pender Harbour & District Chamber of Commerce
Populated places in the Sunshine Coast Regional District Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Marinas in Canada Transport buildings and structures in British Columbia

Name origin

History

See also

References