Parker’s Landing Historical Park

Located adjacent to the Marina Park, Parker’s Landing Historical Park commemorates David C. Parker, on whose Donation Land Claim this site is located. (For the history, see ‘Van Vleet Historical Plaza,’ below.)

Parkersville National Historic Site Advisory Committee

The Parkersville National Historic Site Advisory Committee was formed by the Port in 1985 to act as an advisory body to the Commissioners for the development of the historic area known as the Parker’s Landing Historical Park. The Committee welcomes all volunteers and holds regular meetings – open to the public – on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the Port Meeting Room. For more information about the Committee, please contact their current President Bruce Fuerstenberg at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Van Vleet Historical Plaza

This plaza commemorates the Van Vleet Family. On May 13, 2004, two bronze plaques were unveiled in the Van Vleet Historical Plaza. One lists the major contributors to construction of the Plaza, and the other displays the history of the Van Vleet family at this site, and shows the legend for the symbols on each engraved brick.

Local history is reflected by the names engraved in the plaza bricks, which begin at the eastern end with the very earliest people, the Chinook Indians — followed by explorers, fur traders, and the Michael T. Simmons party who sojourned at this site in late 1844 until the fall of 1845. These are followed by the names of those who held Donation Land Claims and Homesites. All who settled East Clark County in 1889 or before are considered East Clark County Pioneers. Many of their descendants are also memorialized in the Plaza. In addition, present-day people, businesses, churches, and organizations have been invited to “Make History” by having a brick inscribed with their names and the year of arrival or establishment.

David C. Parker, on whose Donation Land Claim this site is located, platted the town of Parkersville in 1854. When Parker died in 1858, Lewis Van Vleet was appointed the second administrator of Parker’s estate, the first having moved. Later Van Vleet bought part of Parker’s land, operated Parker’s ferry business, and filed a new Parkersville plat on April 18, 1878. Lewis Van Vleet, who established a DLC (Donation Land Claim) in Fern Prairie, was a U.S. Deputy Surveyor and Clark County Representative in the Territorial Senate.

Van Vleet’s Daughter, Louisa Van Vleet Spicer Wright , was one of the first women doctors in the state of Washington. She was born in 1862 at her parents’ “Oak Grove Farm” in Fern Prairie. In 1885 she graduated from medical school Ann Arbor, Michigan. The land on which this park is located was given to Louisa by her father.

In 1901, Louisa married James W. Wright, a widower. About seven years after Dr. Wright’s tragic death in 1913, her son Cecil Van Vleet (born a Spicer) began residing on his mother’s property. Between 1929 and 1931, Cecil took legal action to re-establish the Parkersville plat, the original having been destroyed by the 1890 fire in the Clark County Court House. Cecil did not live permanently at Parker’s Landing, but he returned in the 1950’s to remain until his death in 1977. After three generations of Van Vleets being involved in the property, it was sold in 1968 to the Port of Camas/Washougal with the hopes that it would become a park.