400 million years ago – The PGT was at the edge of the sea and contained a huge coral reef. Today a 200-foot slab of fossilized coral reef lays exposed in Hiller’s Creek. The picture shows a piece of polished fossil from that reef.

2,000 years ago –Woodland Indians lived in a rock shelter below “The Point”. An archeological dig was conducted in the 1960s. Today you can find artifacts and arrowheads along the trails.

200 years ago – Thomas Caldwell started a commercial pottery using underground kilns to create salt-glazed stoneware. Today we have overgrown piles of broken jars and jugs in a cedar thicket on the edge of the property.

50 years ago – Herb and Joan Domke bought an 80-acre run-down old farm that would eventually become the PGT.

40 years ago – Henry and Lorna Domke bought land adjacent to the PGT and over time the property grows to 540-acres.

30 years ago – The PGT is started. Fescue fields are converted into prairie and we start using controlled burns.

15 years ago – The farmhouse burns down, and a visitor center is built to replace it.

10 years ago – Lorna retires from the Department of Conservation and assumes leadership of the PGT. The PGT becomes a 501c3 non-profit public entity.

5 years ago –A 20-year Master Plan for the PGT is created by Terra Design Studio.

1 year ago – The first phase of the Master Plan is completed with a half-mile of paved sidewalks, a paved parking lot, viewing structures over the creek, public bathrooms, and maps and sign posts to guide you along the trails.

Dates are approximate