Lac de' Fleur Gardens
History
History of Lac de’ Fleur GardensNestled on the North side of Mount Norway on the West end of the Columbia River Gorge, this 20 ac. property was once part of a larger tract of land owned by the late Dr. Frank Boersma.
During the early 1950’s Dr. Boersma started building his beloved park. He carved out his lake and ponds building a dike and access roads. His first picnic structures were primitive but through the two decades to follow he refined and built a beautiful parkland setting.
The water that feeds the lake and ponds originates from under Mt. Adams. It flows through an ancient aquifer along the steep hillside. Dr. Boersma captured this water building two cisterns. The result is ‘gravity fed’ irrigation. He used this water not only for irrigation, but for a drinking fountain located on the ‘fire pit’, to cool his stone incased refrigerator, and to feed his waterfalls. These waterfalls are located due south of the gazebo with the picnic table in it. They feed into a pond that once was a swimming pool.
In the late 1970’s, as Dr. Boersma became older he no longer was able to care for his park. He leased his acreage as well as the parkland out to cattle farmers. From the late 1980’s until we found the land it sat neglected and abandoned.
In 1996 we purchased the land. Looking for a large piece of property, we called on a classified in the Columbian newspaper. The land had been sold to a local developer and he was selling off 20ac. tracts. This was the last 20ac. tract available. What scared potential buyers away was the very thing that moved us to buy the property. We drove in on the old road which is located east beyond the park. We had to buy rubber boots to explore this once pastoral park. Beavers had moved in along with the Blackberries and Alder trees. The structures were flooded and barely visible through the Blackberry bushes and fallen trees. We could see that this place was once very special and could be again. It has a spirit about it and we were deeply moved. The trees that survived were magnificent. We noted the ancient Weeping Willow, Butternut tree, Empress Tree, Redwood, Norway Maples, Tree Bamboo, Oaks, and various nut and fruit trees.
Finding the culvert under a large beaver dam we were able to restore the water table to its original level. This was the beginning of our journey to reclaim the parkland. We purchased a camp trailer and spent every weekend cleaning and clearing. It was like a treasure hunt finding all of Dr. Boersma’s creations.
We looked him up in the phone book and he reluctantly agreed to meet us. He was much older now, a tall thin man, very intelligent but reserved . We met at a restaurant near his home in Vancouver. We had many questions for him. We developed a relationship and he was able to tell us many details of the years he spent creating his dream. He did all the work himself even milling his own lumber. He asked us if we had found the fire pit yet. It was totally covered in blackberries that we quickly started cutting away. He told us of the springs and the cisterns, the waterfalls, the wood troughs and water wheel. One time he came out with a friend and actually walked up on the hill to show us the concrete cistern he had built. We extended him the invitation to use the park at any time, and he did.
We built our home in 1999. In the spring of 2000 we started building what is now known as Lac de’ Fleur Gardens.
