The work is to prepare for the many visitors coming to celebrate the third annual Parkersville Day, Saturday, June 1

Volunteers with a love of gardening and history will gather to spruce up Parker’s Landing Historical Park on Tuesday, May 21 from 3 p.m.-5 p.m.  The work is to prepare for the many visitors coming to celebrate the third annual Parkersville Day, Saturday, June 1 from noon to 3 p.m.

The beautiful park with its rose arbor, large historic trees, colorful flowers, and spectacular views of the Columbia River and Mt. Hood, holds significant local history. It is the site of Parkersville, a town platted on May 1, 1854. As a result of citizen activism and organization, the town site was added to the National Register of Historic and Archeological Places on August 11, 1976, by the U.S. Department of the Interior with support from the Washington State Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Artifacts recovered from the park site represented the presence of Indigenous tribes for thousands of years before settlers crossed the Oregon Trail.

“I hope to meet and welcome many volunteers to help with the gardening,” said David Parker,” volunteer secretary of the Parkersville National Historic Site Advisory Committee to the Port (PAC) and Parkersville Heritage Foundation (PHF).

“Many hands make the work lighter so join us for two hours or less at our spruce up,” said Nancy Harrison, a Soroptimist and PAC member, a regular at these events.  “The work involves removing winter plants, weeding, and trimming. The roses need regular pruning and twining, and the flower beds need continual weeding.”

A bronze plaque on a boulder at the park entrance displays the park’s national, state and county park historic and heritage registrations. A kiosk inside the park gives visitors an understanding of the park’s history. The Chinook Plaza next to the kiosk celebrates native plants and local Chinook leaders. A tall granite sculpture displays the Chinook belief in the coyote as a guardian, in this case watching over the park, a place ancestors walked.

The park has a long tradition of regular volunteers who help tend to its gardens.  The historic silo base planter is tended to by the Camas-Washougal Soroptimists Club. The park gardens are also managed by the Camas-Washougal Garden Club Beautification Team.

A garden shed in the park was built in the 1970s for the Community Garden Club whose members actively cared for the park’s gardens. The club planted a dogwood tree nearby. A granite plaque by the dogwood shows club members who gave decades of service to the park.

Eagle Scout Harris Royer from Camas Scout Troop 562 refurbished the shed in summer 2023. PAC volunteer, Jeff Carlson, assisted Royer in refurbishing the shed. Royer also expanded the bark circles around the park’s Heritage Apple Grove, removing grass that competed with the tree’s watering. Hotter summers are a threat to the trees as the park does not have sprinklers due to the archeological findings. Volunteers are also called upon each summer to help hand water the park trees, eight of which claim Clark County Heritage Tree status.

Carlson and PAC volunteer Jim Cooper recently beautified the park by rebuilding new cedar frames for park trash cans. A beautiful cherry wood foot bridge was created, built, installed, as a park donation in 2022 by Cody MacKinnon and Jesse Green, owner of All Phase Construction and Remodeling. Cody and Shannon Long, owner of Honey Do Construction, topped the park’s wood fence posts in 2022-23 to preserve the railing and beautify the park.

Brian Scott, President of the Camas-Washougal Lion’s Club, and his club crew have provided major clean up annually to beautify the park. The club has also supported the first two annual Parkersville Day events with volunteers. The Camas-Washougal Rotary Club, Scout Troop 562, PAC Members, and Realty One have dedicated time weekly for the park’s summer hand watering in addition to helping with the Parkersville Day event.

Show your appreciation for this special park and meet others in this year’s park spruce up. Enjoy the “before” and “after” satisfaction. To learn more, email SusanLTripp@gmail.com or leave a message on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ParkersLandingHistoricalPark