[1] The inlet is home to a number of retreats, including Furneaux Lodge and Punga Cove.

When James Cook visited the inlet he nailed an inscribed copper plate to a tree, bearing a date and other information.

According to an old whaler named Thoms, geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter from the Austrian Novara expedition, 1858, took the plate during a visit to the region in 1859.

After pākehā colonies took root, much of the bush in Endeavour Inlet was cleared and farms were established.

[3] In the early 20th century a reserve consisting of 843 acres was located on the hilly land on the west coast of the inner inlet.

[4] In 1873 gold prospectors found ore containing 60% antimony in a landslide near the saddle between Endeavour Inlet and Port Gore.

[3] A local syndicate, including a Mr John Ashworth, formed the Marlborough Antimony Company Ltd. and began mining roughly 2km inland in the inlet in 1874, and a smelter started in 1875.

Ashworth attempted unsuccessfully to resurrect the project in 1877, before in 1883 a small syndicated headed by Mr Houston Logan established the Endeavour Inlet Antimony Company.

Once again a smelter was established, but problems smelting and a fall in the price of antimony lead the syndicate to seek monetary help from England.

[3] Today the remains of the treatment works and smelter can still be seen, along with a waste rock pile and a few drives.

In 1903 early New Zealand conservationist and owner of The Wellington Biscuit and Confectionery Company[5] on Farish St, Wellington Patrick Grieve Howden bought one thousand acres of forest in the back Eastern arm of the inlet, and built a holiday home there.

Alexander Wyclif Reed and Peter Dowling suggest the name is a reference to the emerging of the sun.

Farming efforts proved difficult, and in 1953 the Lands and Survey Department reported the cleared areas had been retaken by growth.

Local land owners Rod and Kath Eatwell played a crucial role in the creation of the Queen Charlotte Track in the 1980s, opting in to the project and doing much of the heavy lifting alongside their children and grandchildren.

In 1991 Rod Eatwell attended the official opening of the Queen Charlotte Track and cut the cake.

[21] Mount Furneaux is an 823-metre (2,700 ft) peak located between Meretoto / Ship Cove and Endeavour Inlet.