"Why is This Town Called Hope?"

Filed From the Frontlines of the Breakfast Table – Evergreen B&B

Every few mornings, somewhere between the first sip of coffee and the I'm Stuffed tummy rub, someone at the breakfast table leans back in their chair, having looked around at the misty mountains, the sleepy streets, the inexplicable number of antique shops, and asks:

"Why is this town called Hope?"

And every time, we—your faithful hosts—smile, take a long breath, and realize...We actually have no idea.

This time, we actually have a real answer.

Back in 1848, the Hudson’s Bay Company, in their infinite wisdom and fur-trading ambition, established a small post at the very edge of where the Fraser River begins to force its way into the mountains.It was a wild place—thick forests, towering peaks, and the kind of relentless nature that made you either very tough or very dead.

They called it “Hope” because it represented exactly that:Hope for a new beginning. Hope for trade routes. Hope for survival.This outpost marked the “hope” at the farthest edge of navigable travel before the river and canyons made things... complicated.

A few years later, in 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush hit like a thunderclap. Suddenly, thousands of gold-hunters and fortune-seekers surged into the area, turning Hope from a quiet outpost into a bustling gateway to the north.If you wanted to head into the interior of British Columbia in search of glory (or certain doom), Hope was where your journey began.(And, occasionally, ended—depending on how bad you were at panning for gold or fighting off mosquitos the size of small hawks.)

So in the most literal sense, this town was named for the hope that brought people west, up rivers, through forests, across mountains, and into entirely new lives.Hope was the starting line.

Today?The gold rush is long gone.The canyons have been tamed (mostly).But that original feeling—that quiet, stubborn belief that something better lies just ahead—still lingers in the mountains, the rivers, and maybe even in the hearts of the weird and wonderful people who find their way here.

Including you.Welcome to Hope.

—Your Always Learning Hosts,The Evergreen B&B,

Not only the Best Bed & Breakfast in Hope, BC, but also the most willing to teach you something.