Renata is a small town on a stump peninsula in the Arrow Sea, about 20 miles (35 km) northwest of Castlegar, British Columbia. This settlement sprang up in the primeval forest about 1910 and was settled by five Mennonite (General Conference Mennonite) families from the Rosenort Church near Rosthern, Saskatchewan. Climatic and agriculture conditions were favorable and there were about 50 homes in this settlement. The main occupation of the settlers was fruit raising. Many Mennonites left Renata by the 1950s, leaving only about 10 Mennonite families. The first ministers to visit Renata were D. J. Unruh, Herbert, Saskatchewan, in the early 1920s, and C. F. Sawatzky from Laird, Saskatchewan. Abraham Hamm, an immigrant preacher, arrived in 1923. In 1938-1953 P. P. Dyck from Rosemary, Alberta, preached here the six months of each year while he was living in Renata.

In the mid-1960s the community was relocated when a nearby hydroelectric dam flooded the valley.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 300. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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