Ahlberg Park gets new historic signs

The 105 year old Grays River Covered Bridge’s history is now illustrated in new signs recently installed at Ahlberg Park adjacent to the bridge.

Each year, hundreds of visitors stop at the park to photograph the bridge and it is also popular with bikers, bicyclists, runners, walkers and fishermen.

The signs showcase historic photographs of the pioneer Ahlberg family who settled the area in the early 1900s, coming from Sweden. It was the Ahlbergs who built the original bridge after their cattle slipped on wet bridge boards. A covering was built to help stock cross safely to the barn on the other side of the river. Grays River, a historic dairy farm area, had a second bridge as well, located north of the current Barr Road concrete bridge. Because the area has significant rainfall, farmers built bridges to protect their herds when moving them to the barns for milking.

The signs were funded by Lenore Sorenson, a descendant of the original Ahlberg family, Bonnie Linquist, also a descendant of a historic family in the Valley, and Karen Bertroch, a resident who lives near the Park. The kiosk for the signs was built by volunteers from the Grays River Hatchery staff. Ahlberg Park is owned and operated by the Wahkiakum Community Foundation.

For more information, contact Bonnie Linquist at (360) 777-8300.