Parkton is a crazy sideshow of a town nestled in the foothills of the Coast Range, on the western edge of the Willamette Valley. Driving into town that first time (Welcome to Parkton, the Willamette’s Hidden Paradise, the sign says), the forested hills surrounding Parkton feel imposing, claustrophobic, like they were intent on swallowing the place and everyone in it whole, with the trees, the ancient Douglas-firs and oaks and pines, shuffling closer all the time to prevent escape.
And those wooded mountains of Oregon’s Coast Range loomed large in the background, a reminder of what hills became, given enough time. This town had no chance.
There were trees everywhere too, like the advance party of a conquering army; maples with huge star-shaped leaves lining the main roads, their leaves a mix of green and gold, giant sequoias standing tall on corners…..
Strange things happen in Parkton, no doubt due to those 11 ancient, coppiced hazelnut trees that form a ring about town. Who planted them–and why?
Parkton was founded in 1853 by Charles F Longworth (Charlie, until he came into money through the goldrush of California in 1848-1855), who came west on the Oregon trail and took up a land claim, opened a general store, platted the land and surveyed a town site. No one knows why he called the place Parkton.
Earliest recorded history explains how the Indians (the Willamette Valley was inhabited by bands of the Kalapuya tribe; 90% of the Kalapuya died as a result of an epidenic of “fever and ague” (malaria) that hit between 1830-1833) burnt the surrounding area for clearing, only the setting of future Parkton always remained untouched, with the fire bending around those hazelnut trees. It was cursed ground, they believed, a place the others still walked.
Somehow, The Symmes Institute, one of the leading scientific organisations in the world, is tied to the trees; they know the secret, they know where those trees lead, and it’s something they will kill to keep hidden.
But it’s not just the hazelnut trees; Parkton is filled with madness.
The northern end of Parkton has grown busier over the past couple of years ever since the new housing estate had been built, providing families with one thousand new homes nestled amongst rolling hills and forests of Douglas firs and oaks. Further north still, the road takes a tour though the forested foothills of the Coast Range before creeping past Parkton Asylum half an hour away. Perched atop a hill, the old hospital afforded its patients with a view over the town, to inspire or tease, it wasn’t clear, but also giving those in town a reminder of what lurked just in the distance.
…and there were stories about that place, too. Tales of experimental drugs, insulin shock therapy, even ghosts wandering the graveyard out back of the hospital, and the night time release of certain patients…
The residents of Parkton even have their own bogeyman, who lives out on Jacob Street. The parents use him to frighten the kids into behaving, least they be taken out that way and left for the Man of the House… It’s a threat the children take seriously. But why are the homeless drawn there–and how come so many homeless drift along the gutters of this town?
Parkton Stories
Joey Blue and the Gutterbreed (ASIM #48, 2010)
809 Jacob Street (forthcoming novel, featuring Joey Blue, the old homeless bluesman who fell into one of his songs one day and never found his way out again)
He trudged on through the alleyways of Parkton, hiding from the world so he might suffer his embarrassment alone. He crossed empty streets and slipped down behind silent buildings, a solitary soul amongst a land of shadows.
There was a maze of alleys in this town, more than there should be for a place this size. It sometimes felt to him that he wasn’t in Parkton at all, that the town had hold of him but only by the coattails while he flapped and wailed in some other world…
Finding Safe Ground (part 1 of a trilogy) – ever wonder why 11 coppiced hazelnut trees ringed town? And why old Dr Reynolds creeps out at midnight to listen to the ground before each one? Dr Reynolds used to work at The Symmes Institute, a scientific organisation with a long, mysterious history linked to Charles F Longworth, Parkton’s founding father.
What was it that Longworth knew, and that The Symmes Institute will do anything to keep secret? Dr Reynolds knows, but will he be able to expose the truth before they get him–and will the Earth survive such a revelation?
