Re-enactors take trip back in time

Soldiers stayed at Camp Polk Meadow, planting the seeds of the Sisters community.

The meadows along Squaw Creek will be filled with the sights and sounds of a present past on Saturday, August 4 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., as Company A of the 1st Oregon Infantry "returns" to Camp Polk Meadow Preserve.

Historians in period uniforms will recreate the experience of Oregon's first volunteer militia at the site of one of Central Oregon's earliest settlements.

The visit from the re-enactment group is sponsored by The Deschutes Basin Land Trust and Paulina Springs Book Company as part of this summer's celebration of Sisters heritage.

The army originally established Camp Polk as a bastion against marauding Indians. The Indian threat proved to be illusory, and the unit departed. However, their encampment planted the seeds for the community of Sisters.

Following the army's departure in 1866, the site became one of Central Oregon's first homesteads when the Samuel Hindman family settled there in 1870. Situated at the crossroads of the historic Cascade Mountain Road and the trail blazed by explorer John C. Fremont in 1843, Camp Polk developed into a frontier community and the precursor to the town of Sisters.

In the fall of 2000, the historic site was acquired by the Deschutes Basin Land Trust as part of an effort to restore and protect habitat critical for a successful reintroduction of steelhead trout to Squaw Creek.

While the meadow will be managed as a wildlife preserve, historic resources at old Camp Polk will be interpreted and preserved for future generations.

This re-enactment is part of the effort to preserve the heritage of the site.

The living history event will run continuously. Re-enactors will depict the daily life of the soldiers stationed at the encampment and answer questions about the history of the area.

According to Land Trust director Brad Chalfant, docents will be on hand to explain plans for the preserve.

"It's, in essence, both a retrospective and a look forward," Chalfant said.

Parking is very limited; carpooling and biking are encouraged, according to event organizers.

The Camp Polk Meadow Preserve is located on the north side of Camp Polk Road several miles west of the intersection with Highway 126 (at the Aspen Lakes Golf Course turn off).

For more information or more specific directions call Paulina Springs Book Company at 549-0866.