Five Generations of History

Our story

Settled in 1903

Carl S. English (1860-1956) was a well-educated man for his time, having graduated from Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State). He was the first Superintendent of the first hydroelectric power plant in Lowell, Michigan, before moving to Clark County. He had built a “horseless carriage” about the same time as Henry Ford, and generated electricity for the farm with a gas-powered internal combustion engine. He took hundreds of photographs, developed the film in the bathroom and mounted most of them on glass slides - which is why we have so many early photographs of the family and farm.

From Michigan to Vancouver

Carl and his family moved to Clark County by train in 1903. They lived “in town” in Columbia Heights while they cleared the 240 acres they had purchased near Camas for a farm.

5 more children were born on the farm, among them Carl S English Jr., who planted the Carl S. English Jr Botanical Gardens at the Hiram M Chittenden Locks in Seattle.

Carl S English, his wife Betah, mother Persis, father Jude and children, Roy and Beulah. They all moved to Vancouver in 1903 on a train from Michigan.

Clearing the land

A massive wind storm had blown over almost every tree on the previously forested plain.

According to family lore, one could walk on fallen trees all the way to Silver Star mountain without once touching the ground!

The family spent a quarter century clearing the land of fallen timber.

English Farm grew potatoes, grain and prunes, and eventually a dairy was established, which continued until the early 1970’s. Winegrapes were first planted in 1980.

Potatoes for the soldiers housed at the Vancouver Barracks. The 1915 barn is in the background.
Daily life on the farm - kids playing basketball.
The farm in 1903. Look closely and you will see Carl and Betah’s three oldest children in the foreground. The original homesteader’s shack is in the background.
Clearing the land of fallen timber took nearly 25 years.
Farmhouse under construction, 1916.
Thousands of trees had to be cleared before farming could begin.
The prune orchard after an ice storm. It was destroyed.
Roy, Beulah and Ferris holding hands across a massive tree stump.
An ice storm in 1916 killed nearly every tree on the farm.
Betah on the tractor.
Potatoes on their way to the Fort Vancouver Barracks.
Sawing timber.
Route 1 - now SE 1st Street, with Mount Hood in the background.

“A COMMON THREAD weaving through the wine industry involves stories about the camaraderie between parent and their offspring, especially among family-owned wineries.”

- Washington Tasting Room, September 10, 2019