Buckner Homestead Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, North Cascades National Park Complex, National Park Service

NPS Pacific West Regional Office; Vida Germano; Cortney Cain Gjesfjeld; Erica Owens

The Buckner Homestead Historic District is located on a horseshoe bend of the Stehekin River in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area in the remote North Cascades of central Washington State. The 160-acre homestead was first developed by William Buzzard, an early settler to the Stehekin Valley, between 1889 and 1910. During this period, Buzzard built a small log cabin and cleared many acres of land for pasture and cultivation. In 1910, Buzzard sold the homestead to William Van and May Buckner. Their improvements to the property included establishment of approximately 50 acres of fruit trees and construction of several buildings and structures, which supported residential activities as well as the orchard operation. The Buzzard Cabin was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, while the Buckner Homestead Historic District was listed in 1989 as part of the “Historic Resources of North Cascades National Park Service Complex” Multiple Resource Documentation effort. The property is locally significant for its association with early settlement and agricultural development in the Stehekin Valley at the turn of the twentieth century. The National Register period of significance extended from 1889 through World War II, and the nomination boundary encompasses approximately 90-acres of land that includes the buildings and structures at the site as well as the surrounding pasture, orchard and forest. In 2014, a draft National Register of Historic Places amendment form was prepared for the historic district, which revised several components of the original nomination including the period of significance, boundary and resource count. This inventory builds on the earlier documentation and adopts the proposed revised period of significance (1889-1955), boundary (105.5 acres) and resource count to more accurately convey the historic occupation, use, and development of the homestead by William Buzzard and the Buckner family. Several landscape characteristics help to convey the historic character of the site, including natural systems and features, spatial organization, circulation, constructed water features, vegetation, buildings and structures, and archeology. Numerous features associated with the above-mentioned landscape characteristics contribute to the feeling and association of the property. Furthermore, the rich history that has defined and shaped the property is displayed through a number of buildings and structures associated with the development of the site. Other landscape features, including the existing orchard and cleared pasture area, remain as character-defining features. The location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship of these buildings, structures, and associated landscape features convey the character of the homestead as it appeared during the period of significance. Today, the Buckner Homestead continues to play an important role in the history of early homestead settlement in the Stehekin Valley, and it remains as the only example of an intact homestead complex within the boundaries of the North Cascades National Park Complex.

Buckner Homestead Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, North Cascades National Park Complex, National Park Service

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