The first time Charlotte Fykerud saw Ames Lake was in 1962. She was invited by a homeowner’s friend to go fishing on the lake, which was stocked with trout. She remembers there were very few houses then, and the vegetation continued all the way down to the water.

“It looked so dense and primeval,” she said.

In 1965, Charlotte and her husband Jack bought a little cabin on the west side of the lake. After being there for just 5 days, their eldest son Eric was born, followed by their son Kurt in 1968. There were not many families here at the time and only two had children the same age.

Ames Lake Community Club meetings

One of the first things Charlotte and Jack did when they moved here was to attend an Ames Lake Community Club meeting. The Community Club was initially formed to deal with the issue of public fishing on the lake. It was discussed for months.

“In 1965, everyone in the community knew everyone,” Charlotte said. “There was no formal process for meeting, we just met.”

“Sometimes the women around the lake had coffee together and gossiped. Several of the conversations we had were about the awful phone service around the lake. You could call Carnation, Fall City, Snoqualmie, and North Bend, but Redmond was long distance. If you wanted to call there, you had to go down to the store, located where the gas station at 244th is now, and use a public phone mounted to the outside wall. Otherwise, the rates added up quickly.”

Charlotte and Jack bought the lot she lives on now in 1969, also on the west side of the lake. Construction began in March 1970, and they moved there in July of 1973.

“I love it here,” Charlotte said. “When I look around the lake now, even with all the houses and lights, it still doesn’t look that populated. I’m never going to leave Ames Lake.”