This page focuses on the wildfowers found in the Country Club Estates (CCE) neighborhood of Valparaiso, Indiana, USA, located at approx. 41 deg 29' 30" N. Latitude by 87 deg 02' W. Longitude, or the area identified by the black hairline in the below USGS map of Valparaiso, bounded by 400 N. (Vale Park Rd.) to the North and 200 E. (Silhavey) to the East.

To the north of the area is a Golf Course, which extends almost a mile to the North. To the west of the golf course is a housing development and apartment complex. The area to the west of CCE was left fallow and is now an immature woods owned by Dr. D. P. LaCount, who requested to the City Council in 1996 that the area be re-zoned R-4, an idea so crazy it's a wonder the people in City Hall didn't come up with it themselves. The pond, co-owned by LaCount and an elderly lady named Dean whose house is shown by the black box left of "809," is fed by a ditch (not shown) running to the west of the Apartments fed by the watershed of the area west of Calumet Ave, including Chandana Point. The ditch is run under 400 N., creating severe flooding as water gushes over the roadway. The pond used to empty by means of a natural ditch from its southeast corner running though Worthington Gates. The ditch has since been filled and a new ditch to the north of Worthington Gates has been created. It runs to a pipeline linking it with the North/South ditch in CCE and emptying into another ditch running though the area indicated on the map as "Undeveloped Land." The water eventually will empty into Lake Michigan.

The smaller pond has since been filled in. It seems to have eutrophied and filled with silt. When building the roads, significant amounts of dirt were put into the old lakebed. The houses built on the old lakebed had problems with water in the "hole" for the foundation. During excavation, significant amounts of "muck" were pulled up. Moreover, the house to the north of the red line has a spring nearby that may have helped to feed the pond. The pond is part of a lowland running from the LaCount-Dean pond through to the ditch flowing through the area labeled "Undeveloped Land" above.

Above, CCE is located below "NORTH" in the right center. The area north of the LaCount-Dean pond flows south to join the CCE drainage area. The land generally falls as one progresses south.

Botanically, CCE contained(s) large, mature stands of ash, shagbark hickory, American beech, blue beech, walnut, and oak throughout. Apple trees are found in the far south. The area in the old lakebed contained mostly immature scrub trees. A large stand of beeches and maples dominates further north.

Go Home.