This small park that surrounds a lake is one of my favorite places to walk. People bring their dogs for a run, and on a good day, there's a stunning view of Mt. Rainier. On the hill above the lake the springs were running strong, creating small streams running down the hill toward the lake. The stream that runs from a nearby lake , and the two streams that run through the park are full.
The park has been a work in progress for more than a decade now. The city has acquired the land in stages, buying out the small farms that enclosed the lake; some have been here for a hundred years. There are only two farms left, but you can see where the other farmsteads stood. The city decided to leave a lot of the trees and shrubs that were planted near the farmhouses. The last farm to be demolished had a towering redwood tree by the barn, and a huge native camellia in the front yard.
It's sad that they didn't leave any of the barns. I always thought they'd make the perfect park maintenance buildings. But it's especially sad because this state has such a strong heritage barn program, dedicated to preserving these pieces of Washington's farming heritage. That makes it doubly tragic for a city to just carelessly destroy them.
Lovely park! As an employee of a large city, my guess is that the old barns may have posed a risk for folks wanting to go inside and it was likely cheaper to tear them down than to put the money into restoring them. (Those lawyers ruin all the fun!)
ReplyDeleteThat is such a bummer that they have torn down the bars. Thankfully here in Michigan they seems to know how to incorporate barns in parks.
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