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This page last updated February 13, 2024
© Michael Kluckner
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The Kruger homestead, I was told by a guy who may have been Jonathan Kruger, the former Penticton Indian Band chief. A picturesque place at the northwest edge of Skaha Lake, just at the point where Highway 97 changes direction and runs along the Penticton-Skaha waterfront, that I've looked at for years and finally decided to draw and colour with the pencils. I've added this in the hope that a local historian will fill in the details. There is a Kruger Mountain and other spots in the South Okanagan bearing that settler's name. From Shannon Shale, 2023: I was just reading up on history of the area and came across the Kruger Homestead in Penticton. I stopped in for a photo op one afternoon and didn't realize as I was shooting pictures on the property of THE REZ, until I noticed at my feet a topplednover NO Trespassing sign in the long grass. I was a little embarrassed but the photos of the house was worth it. I happened to notice a home nearby and shyly waved and then walked over to the people in the driveway. I apologized for my intrusion and was greeted by Harley Kruger a great great great Grandson of the original owner. He went onto tell me that that little tiny home, once housed 13 children and his great great great Grandparents and an Aunt that never married, that WAS BEFORE the addition was built on. I couldn't imagine how action packed their tiny, tiny home was. It's got beautiful scroll work on the front porch overhang. The porch is deteriorating. A few windows remain. Most of the inside was vandalized by humans ,however is now occupied by packrats woodpeckers and other destructive critters . The other outbuildings on the property remain. A couple root cellars,a livestock barn, several lean-to shelters. A chicken house, and some remnants of posts scattered through the property is what's left of the farms fence. The Kruger family has always occupied that property since the late 1800s. When asked if restoration was possible or perhaps a future project, the answer was ,"No." Harley quoted , that it will remain as it is and let nature have its way so the home can decay back into the earth where the materials to build the home that was cherished by his ancestors and offer itself as a sacrifice back to "The Creator." I left with a souvenir, I dabble in wood carving, and there was some odd shaped wood pieces scattered around the house and leaning up against the porch. Harley offered them to me and THANKED ME , for stopping and showing interest and apologizing for my,Trespassing. He said most people don't ask to enter, often people vandalize, or show disrespect on the land. But thanked me I suppose because I saw the beauty it still held, in the structure and the story. I was gifted a piece of an apple tree that was over 100 yrs old and had recently been struck by lightening. I carved a dancing figure I named, "The Creator." From Keith Che, 2024: I seen your info about the KRUGER homestead , I was 16 and that was 64 years ago when i was first at their farm to rent 2 horses to ride up into the hills. I met LAURA AND MARY KRUGER AND one of their brothers. I heard that the brother died of a riding accident on his horse. Also that LAURA KRUGER PASSED AWAY. MARY WAS LOOKING AFTER A RV PARK LATE IN HER LIFE. I still have the picture that LAURA AND MARY GAVE ME OF THEM. I remember telling LAURA that if i was still single at 30 i will return and see you. At 29 i was single again but never kept in touch or returned again. Spent a few days in Pentiction in 2019 or 2020.not much changed at the end of the lake. PS VERY NICE FAMILY AND GOOD MEMORIES |
