Next time you’re traveling in Terwilliger Parkway, and especially if you’re having thoughtful moments in the Walpole Garden, please give a shout out to our board member Bob Bonner. He’s an inspiration to all of us! Here’s his nomination for PGE Parks Champion.
The Walpole Garden, a collaboration with our partners at Portland Parks and Recreation, is named after the noted American botanical illustrator Frederick Andrews Walpole who built a house at Eagle Point (300 ft to the north of the garden) in 1895. We are gradually planting many of the native plants he illustrated for the US Botanical Garden before his untimely death of typhoid in 1905.
Friends of Terwilliger received several calls/emails last month from concerned users of the Parkway regarding the many trees cut down uphill towards the OHSU campus.
Environmental Services is designing a project to replace approximately 1600 feet of aging, large-diameter public sewer pipes along Duniway Park. Having provided over 100 years of service, the pipes require repairs to maintain reliable sewer service and protect public health and the environment. Construction is currently scheduled to begin late fall 2025 and will take about up to two and a half years to complete.
A few years ago we came across this picture of a wooden trestle spanning a ravine in Terwilliger Parkway. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to have lasted very long.
Many THANKS to the Friends of Terwilliger who showed up to improve this labyrinth at the Walpole Garden area of Historic Terwilliger Parkway.
The Frederick Andrews Walpole Garden is a public garden created in the strip of land between SW Terwilliger Boulevard and SW Hamilton Terrace with spectacular, unobstructed views of the Willamette Valley and Mount Hood. The garden is named after Frederick Andrews Walpole, a major US botanical illustrator hired by the US government who settled in Portland and built his home at Eagle Point in 1894.
The project has been developed by the Friends of Terwilliger and Portland Parks & Recreation over the past six years: reflecting our volunteer capacity, funds raised, and exploring what works in the area.
2023 is now in the rear-view mirror and it’s time to congratulate ourselves for our restoration accomplishments.
Were you a part of our native planting event in December 2023 at Eagle Point in the Terwilliger Parkway?
A big round of applause for our wonderful volunteers who helped us rid Historic Terwilliger Parkway of those darn invasive plants like ivy and blackberries. Yeah!!!!
Friends of Terwilliger wants to thank the twenty+ volunteers, photographed here, who came to help us plant natives in the Eagle Point area of Terwilliger Parkway.
We couldn’t have done it without all of our tenacious and dedicated volunteers! THANK YOU!!!
What a beautiful fall day to enjoy this view of Mt Hood from the Walpole Garden/Bancroft St right-of-way.
Here’s a photo for you to remember the fall colors with a bit of sun.
With help from the Hillsdale Troop 1, incoming Lewis & Clark students (seated above), and neighbors, Friends of Terwilliger has established log bench seating areas with views in the Bancroft right of way and the elevated park area to its south
Weren’t we lucky to have a second day of students from Lewis & Clark College volunteering to help us restore another area of Terwilliger Parkway? This time it was in the Walpole Garden area; part of the Bancroft right-of-way FOT has been improving for many years now.
Terwilliger Parkway and all of its friends were thrilled to have 20 Lewis & Clark College students and staff help free the trees of the invasive ivy growing up into the canopy.
Cooper and his Hillsdale Scout Troop 1 spent a full morning completing this path and bench area today.
As you can see from the “before” photo of the area below, these improvements further enhance this ugly street right-of-way into a welcoming garden for humans and nature.
A BIG thank you to our volunteers who showed up to tackle the ivy in George Himes Park, along the Terwilliger Parkway.
Hillsdale-based Scout Troop 1 offered their muscles and tenacity at Friends of Terwilliger’s restoration site in the SW Bancroft right-of-way on EarthDay 2023.
You may have noticed on-going work here:
Friends of Terwilliger have been working with Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) for the past five years to restore a narrow strip (~120ft wide) of ~1 acre parkland centered around the Bancroft St right-of-way just below Terwilliger Parkway and the Marquam Hill hospitals.
As we develop the Walpole Garden and its related app-based guides to its Oregon native plants illustrated by 19th century artists such as Frederick Walpole, we hope to extend this effort into the adjacent sunny Hamilton Street Playground area to the south and the heavily forested Eagle Point to the north.
From the adjacent sunny Hamilton Playground to the heavily forested Eagle Point nature paths, these areas provide additional microclimates, while the Hamilton Playground Park area provides an opportunity to provide native plant learning to children and families using the playground.
A long-term project to establish a native plant demonstration garden, based upon Frederick Walpole’s illustrations of Oregon Native Plants, is about to begin in Historic Terwilliger Parkway on either side of the SW Bancroft St right-of-way.
Students and coaches from Central Catholic High School gave a few hours of their time to help us clear some ivy near Duniway Track.
A big Thank You to Portland Running Company’s Race Team for coming out the help us rid Duniway Track of some of that darn ivy. Here’s the “gang” below.
Friends of Terwilliger (FOT) was honored to guide participants of the “Preserving the Historic Road International” (PHRI) Conference on a tour of Terwilliger Parkway during their conference being hosted in Portland in late September.
(photo from 1912 bus tour)
Well, if you thought the harvest moon wouldn’t be visible from Terwilliger Parkway because of our smoky air, you were mistaken!
Check out these natural elements seen in Historic Terwilliger Parkway recently.
It’s been a long time coming, but Terwilliger Parkway has finally been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1985 the Portland Park Bureau hired a consultant to prepare nominations to the National Historic Register for several older city parks. But then they never submitted them to the National Park Service for listing. Now FOT has completed the task!
Ever wonder what Bioswales are and what they do? Check out this fantastic video made by our partners at the Westside Watershed Resource Center.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation has largely completed the installation of new LED light fixtures on the light poles along Terwilliger Parkway between Duniway Park and Capitol Hwy. The change is notable!
We just learned that the Portland Parks Foundation has awarded Friends of Terwilliger a grant to fund our new social media campaign. Want to get involved?
