YACOLT — Those searching for the “Great Pumpkin” and for some fall fun this October have had numerous pumpkin patches and farms to choose from, including Pumpkin Lane at Pomeroy Living History Farm in Yacolt.
Open to the public during the weekends in October, Pumpkin Lane will be open for one final weekend this coming Sat.-Sun., Oct. 29-30. The farm will be open to visitors from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday.
Cost of admission to Pumpkin Lane is $6 for adults and $4 for children ages 3-11. Families who visit the farm will be able to enjoy a mile-long hayride, more than 100 “pumpkin people” dressed as various characters and a stop at the pumpkin patch to find that perfect pumpkin or two.
Other activities going on during Pumpkin Lane include a hay bale maze, pumpkin flume, yard games, Historic Log House tours, farm animals to visit with and refreshments available for purchase at the Farm Cafe.
According to the Pomeroy Living History Farm website, E C Pomeroy and his wife, Adelaide, arrived at the farm in the year 1910. They first bought the farm in July of 1910, and during the six weeks it took them to get packed up and make the journey there, a forest fire tore through the Lucia Valley and burned everything, including the house, barn and livestock.
The Pomeroys stayed at the farm and lived their first winter in an army tent provided by the American Red Cross. In the spring, they started building a new house and barn, and clearing more of the land so they could farm. The original house and barn were located along the base of the hill since there was a creek there for water. The road, as it was, ran along there as well.
The road often times washed out in the winter, so E C petitioned the county to establish a new road, and in 1915 they did, along the north bank of the East Fork of the Lewis River, which is the road that is still used today to access the farm. Once the new road was put in, they decided the original house was too far from the whole farm, so they had the house moved to where the Historic Log House currently sits today.
However, this house is not the house that presently sits on the property. In 1920, there was smallpox in the family, and a county nurse was sent out to establish quarantine and burn infected clothing and bedding. While she was going that, some sparks from the fire landed on the roof of the house and burnt it to the ground. The family preserved once again and built another house around the remaining brick chimney.
Pomeroy Living History Farm is located at 20902 NE Lucia Falls Road, in Yacolt. Pumpkin Lane is open to the public each year during weekends in October. For more information, call the farm at (360) 686-3537, visit the farm’s website or visit their Facebook page.
