Historical Role of Hunt Club Revealed

New book brings oldest western fox-hunting club to life

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 @ 7 pm
Lakewood Library, 6300 Wildaire Road SW

New from Arcadia Publishing is Woodbrook Hunt Club, by local author and horseback riding enthusiast Joy Keniston-Longrie. With more than 200 black and white images from an extensive variety of sources, Woodbrook Hunt Club offers a fascinating look at the history of hunting and recreational riding on the southern prairies of Washington State.

The Woodbrook Hunt Club, co-founded in 1926 by Maj. J. H. Mathews and Thornwood Estate superintendent Thomas Bryan, is the oldest fox-hunting club west of the Mississippi. Horses have long played an important historical role on the prairies south of Tacoma. The Nisqually Indians were the first to ride horses on the Nisqually Prairie in the early 1800s followed by the Hudson's Bay Company and horse-race activities in the 1840s.

The establishment of Fort Lewis in 1917 has protected this unique prairie ecosystem, resulting in a longstanding partnership with the Woodbrook Hunt Club. Today the club continues its rich tradition on the last remaining three percent of native prairie in the Puget Sound Corridor.

Joy Keniston - Longrie will present “History of the Woodbrook Hunt Club” for the Lakewood Historical Society on Tuesday, May 19 at 7 pm at the Lakewood Library, 6300 Wildaire Rd SW. A book signing will follow. The Public is welcome to attend the monthly meeting of the society and hear the lecture.

Author Joy Keniston-Longrie, a recreational rider and graduate of the University of Washington, is the great-granddaughter of Clay Lincoln Keniston who arrived in Tacoma in 1884 as a blacksmith. Keniston-Longrie combined her passion for history and recreational riding to create this pictorial equestrian history of the prairies in Lakewood, south of Tacoma.Hudson’s Bay Company and horse-race activities in the 1840s.