Seven women came together in 1947 because of their shared love for gardening and formed the Sequim Prairie Garden Club (SPGC).

Club historian Priscilla Hudson said SPGC members would talk about gardening and do community service.

“They did garden therapy at the nursing homes,” Hudson said. “They took May baskets to the hospital. They did things with the police department. They planted at the hospital, the school, the library.”

Out of this community service came the idea of fixing up an overgrown lot on the main street coming into town, Hudson said — centered on a lot that was home to the abandoned Sequim Cemetery.

Settler/pioneer John Bell sold four acres of his land to the Clallam County commissioners in 1888, and the land was used, which was then used for the cemetery. Shortly after 1909, however, the cemetery was abandoned because of flooding issues, club records note.

Hudson said that one of the garden club members went to the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles to find the paperwork from when John Bell sold the property to the county. They then had to figure out how to get permission to clean it and who to get it from. That process of getting the right paperwork took 10 years, she said.

“After World War II, up until that point, women had been in the home on the farm,” Hudson said. “They had not been active in the community … and so I saw that as a huge step for these women.”

Photo courtesy of the Sequim Prairie Garden Club The Earl C. Barrent family bought a piece of property on Chicken Coop Road that included a log cabin. In the present day, the log cabin is now located at Pioneer Memorial Park.

On Sept. 25, 1951, the Sequim Cemetery Association leased the property for 99 years to the SPGC and the property was officially named Pioneer Memorial Park in 1952.

Hudson said what surprises her the most when looking through the history is the amount of work that it took to clear the land. She said it was hard for women in the club to get a bulldozer because people were worried about the liability.

“I can see there were notes over months of trying to get a bulldozer to clear the property, whereas today you [don’t] think as much about that,” she said.

When they needed fencing, instead of having someone cut new boards, a team of women went out to abandoned farms to collect old fence posts and boards, Hudson said.

“They utilized what was around, but the fact that women did it, I just think it’s a highlight,” she said.

Club president Ellen Castleman said she was amazed by the fundraising that these women did and their creativity.

“The yearbook that we still have, they did by hand,” Castleman said. “They wrote them all and then stitched them together. I mean, it was amazing.”

For more about the Sequim Prairie Garden Club, visit sequimprairiegardenclub.org.

Editor’s note — This is the first in a four-part series about the Sequim Prairie Garden Club and Pioneer Memorial Park. The club celebrates its 75th year in 2023, and invites the community to join them at an event to commemorate the milestone from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, at the park, 387 E. Washington St. The event will feature exhibits, live music, refreshments and a presentation from gardening guru Ciscoe Morris. — MD