Just two houses east of us is an old empty house that is gently sagging into ruin. We were invited inside by former tenants who showed us a big upstairs room they called “the trampoline room” because the floor had so much give they were afraid to walk in there. We hope someday to see the house loved again.

The house sits on a corner lot. As one walks past its east side, one can see that it was long ago planted with beautiful trees and shrubs.
The back yard used to fascinate me when I would walk around downtown, before I moved to Lake Street in October of 2010.
Someone is still dispatched by the owners to mow the lawn.
On a foggy 1st of October in 2012, the garden beckoned me in irresistibly .
Roses festooned the edged of a huge old Pampas grass.
An old rhododendron sprouted a topknot of Himalayan blackberry.
Looking east toward the road from the center of the garden, unkept ornamental grass with rhododendron.
It would be hard for me to bring this garden back because of the way the plants are planted sort of willy nilly. I would feel sentimental about its past, but the arrangement would be difficult for me to work with.
Further in, an old area is fenced, perhaps for a veg garden.
Near to the fence, a holly seedling has sprouted vigorously right from the middle of another old rhodo.
There is the occasional beer can, so the paths in the lawn are worn by deer or perhaps by human feet.
Like our lot two doors down, the Elfreda house lot goes through all the way to the meander line. Until the Port of Ilwaco built up the land with dredge spoils in the middle of the last century, the south end of the lot would have been tidal riverfront.
This area corresponds with our “bogsy woods”. My neighbour to the west has lived here all her life and tells me she and her friends used to swim in a swimming hole just past the willows.
This used to be the old swimming hole…at the river beach. Now it’s by the Port parking lots. By October 2012 it has completely dried up from an unusually droughty summer.
Here it is in late October 2011 after a more normal period of autumn rain.
By late December 2012 the rain had returned and the water had again risen….much better for all the little frogs, but nothing like the swimming hole that it used to be.
And here, once one walks around the swimming hole to the very south side of the property, is the view of the port where once the tide lapped in.
I think its a lovely old garden and would be worthy of some younger person to restore in their nspare time.
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I know the locals wish the house would be sold to, or lived in, by someone who would restore both the house and the garden. Thank you for your comment!
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[…] Just around the corner, a mown path led enticingly into the neighbourhood’s lost garden. […]
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can you tell me where it located. I want to drive by. Thank you for the add this is a very informational group
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The house is on the SW corner of Lake and Advent.
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[…] the way, I passed the lost garden half a block away. The big hydrangea by Advent Street was in full […]
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[…] I walked down to take the weekly photos at the Ilwaco Saturday market. When I passed the Lost Garden on Advent Avenue, I saw quite a lot of chopping was going […]
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[…] down to the Port I paused to contemplate the pruning going on, quite visible from the street, in the “lost garden” that I think I will soon have to call the formerly lost […]
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[…] the corner just down from us, the house of the Lost Garden is, sadly, lacking an occupant. It would have made an excellent Halloween […]
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