It’s one of King County’s newest protected forests, but in its day, Lady Dyar’s Little Lake Ranch was a Wedding Wonderland like no other. Over 30+ years, this secluded site in the foothills east of Enumclaw hosted thousands of weddings, co-witnessed by the swans, peacocks, and frogs that called “Little Lake” home.
In the early years, the property was owned by the William and Theresia Moeller family, who emigrated from Austria in 1887. Theresia’s mother, Mrs. Schafer, bought the 160-acre homestead claim for $100, 120 acres of which were given to the Moellers. The property was located in the North quarter of Section 20, Township 20 North, Range 7 East.
By 1905, the Moellers completed construction of several impressive farm buildings and a 1,344-sf home. As William’s health began to fail, the Moellers sold the property in 1917, after their boys enlisted for World War I. All of their sons, Emil, William, Joseph, Arthur, and Louis, eventually worked for the nearby White River Lumber Company, though Art and Louis Moeller later bought a farm they named Good Hope Dairy, located near the present-day Safeway…