File:Orchard at Fort Vancouver (2019) (5eeaf53a-33ec-4b7a-a315-869e93a16887).JPG

Rows of apple trees with tall trunks and full, leafy canopies grow in an orchard in front of the wooden stockade of a reconstructed fort, near an open area of tall grass.

The Fort Vancouver cultural landscape reflects the Hudson’s Bay Company development at its peak in 1845. Between the HBC's departure in 1860 and NPS ownership in 1948, the area was used for several other purposes. Since 1947, numerous archeological investigations have uncovered data from the HBC era that has informed the reconstruction of the fort and employee village. In 2003, an orchard was planted in an accurate location with historically appropriate apple tree varieties, such as English cider varieties. It represents the orchard planted in 1845 between the stockade and employee village, restoring one acre of the historic five-acre orchard using information about location, varieties, spacing, and practices from maps, lithographs, journals, letters, and archeology. Trees were mainly grown from seed, planted on a 30-ft grid system, and shaped with tall trunks and no lower branches to reflect 1840s apple orchard practices.

*Subject: Cultural Landscapes

• Keywords: cultural landscape; Fort Vancouver; orchard