This week the RDOS board will consider a statement of significance for the barn at See Ya Later Ranch (Hugh Fraser)

 

DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE

The See Ya Later Ranch barn, located at 2563 Green Lake Road, Okanagan Falls, was built built c1932 for Hugh Fraser as part of general farming operations on what was, essentially, a mixed farming site that included cattle, horses and other livestock, and a small orchard. Beginning in the early 1960s,that farming complex began to include commercial scale grape growing and later, wine making. While the barn was a valuable farm asset, there is someindication that Fraser also had the barn built to help provide work for local neighbours in the early years of the Great Depression. Part of the site’s photographic record indicates that there was, in fact, abarn on this site as early as 1918.

While the ranchland was originally purchased from Sam and George Hawthorne in 1921, Major Hugh
Fraser had the longest tenure on the See Ya Later Ranch. Over those decades and until his death in
1970, Fraser enlivened the social setting in the south Okanagan through his involvement in and/or support
of the Penticton Museum, the SPCA, golf, the Red Cross, and other community groups. In addition, the ranch itself was seen locally as a social hub where Fraser hosted gatherings, visiting dignitaries, and royalty – including King George VI and his entourage in 1939. Other visitors included Lord and Lady Bessborough and the Earl and Countess of Staff ord.

The building itself, measuring roughly 7.3m X 17.7m, is oriented squarely north/south, and is a valuable example of a vernacular barn commonly found across many pioneer farming settings. Over its years of use, the building appears to have changed little. Outwardly, it retains the two shed dormer windows built into the lower pitch of the east-facing roof. Interestingly, there are eight windows on the west wall of the barn and only seven windows on the darker east (upslope) wall. The two cupola vents on the apex of the roofl ine also remain intact. Internally, both the main fl oor and the upper full loft are open, though the main fl oor does have eight posts supporting the loft ’s joist system. A number of these posts have been moved or altered over the years to accommodate the changing needs of the ranch or winery operations.