Aurora, Oregon: Old Aurora Colony Museum + antiques shops; things to do

Aurora, Oregon

Alternate route Highway 99E goes right through town, splitting it in half.

Time After Time antiques shop in Aurora, Oregon

Aurora is the first organized Christian communal society established west of the Mississippi.  The 400 original colony members arrived via the Oregon Trail in 1855.  Sharing property and labor with one another, they flourished here from 1856 through the mid-1880s.   The community became known for simple living and for accumulating a minimum of material things, and it produced fine musicians, craftsmen, and scholars.  Though the colony disbanded in the 1880s, many descendants continue to live here. 

Aurora opened its first antique store in 1959.  The town was designated Oregon’s first National Historic District in 1974.  Now, with more than 200 antique dealers, it claims to be Oregon’s antique capital.  What I like best about antiqueing here--besides the generally good prices made even better by Oregon’s policy of charging no sales tax--is that many of the shops operate within restored historic buildings.  But be cautious.  On my last visit I purchased an item that I later found in Portland for half the price! 

merchandise in Home Again Antiques shop in Aurora, Oregon

Old Aurora Colony Museum 

2nd/Liberty.  Fee. 
Five buildings display a collection of kitchen utensils, farm implements, and other artifacts once used in the daily lives of colony members.  Informal guided tours begin with a slide show telling how the mostly German colonists settled first in Pennsylvania, then in Missouri, then here.  The tour also includes the restored 1870s Steinbach Log Cabin and Kraus House.  Browsing the exhibits, we saw some unusual musical instruments--most of which still work--and an elaborate music box sent back to the town by Henry Theophilus Fink, who was the first Oregon student to graduate from Harvard (the whole town helped him with expenses) and who worked at the New York Post as a music critic from 1881 to 1924.  As a Bay Area resident, I found it interesting to learn that the town once operated a busy hotel serving travelers on the road between San Francisco and British Columbia.

Contact the Aurora Colony Visitors Association for more information about antiques shops, restaurants, and lodging.

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images copyright Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Oakland, Oregon: Olde Town Antiques; things to do

Oakland, Oregon

A scenic back-country loop leads past cows munching contentedly on the bounty of the area’s lush, green rolling hills, and on into the low-key, old-time town of Oakland featuring a small museum and brick buildings dating to the 1890s.  You’ll cross a one-lane concrete bridge on this freeway loop. 

Olde Town Antiques  

110 SE Locust St., (541) 459-1479.  M-Sat 11-4, Sun 12-4.  Five dealers operate within an atmospheric former tavern featuring three brick walls, a very high ceiling, and the original black bar.



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image courtesy of Historic Oakland Oregon

Wolf Creek, Oregon: Wolf Creek Inn; hotel review

Wolf Creek Inn  

100 Front St., (541) 866-2474.  9 rooms.  B-L-D daily. 

The  oldest continuous-use hotel in the state of Oregon, the Wolf Creek Inn was built in 1883 as a "first-class traveler's hotel" for people journeying on the 16-day stagecoach route from San Francisco to Portland.  An orchard north of the dining room holds  mature apple and pear trees planted in 1885.  President Rutherford B. Hayes, Clark Gable, and Carole Lombard have all slept here, and Jack London wrote in a room on the second floor.  An annual Oktoberfest is held in late September to early October. 

The original Oktoberfest. 

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image courtesy of inn

Sunny Valley, Oregon: Grave Creek Covered Bridge; things to do

Sunny Valley, Oregon

It is claimed that the sun always shines in this beautiful valley. 

Grave Creek Covered Bridge  

14 mi. N of Grants Pass, (at exit 71).

This is one of the few covered bridges in Southern Oregon and is the only one that can be viewed from Highway 5 anywhere along the route.  Though Grave Creek Covered Bridge is closed to cars, you can walk across.  It was here, with puffy white cottonwood floating lazily in the air around me, that I chatted with several fellow Californians who shared a road-war story regarding some Oregonians they crossed paths with who disliked Californians.  Unfortunately, pockets of this prejudice still exist, but fortunately, they are becoming more rare.




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image c2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Cottage Grove, Oregon: Village Green Resort; hotel review

Village Green Resort  

725 Row River Rd., 800-343-7666, 541-942-2491.  70 rooms.  Full breakfast.  Heated pool & hot tub open year-round.  Pets ok in some rooms. 

Located just off of I-5, this gem of a motel features old-time one-story wings that vaguely resemble barns, and it boasts the added convenience to car travelers of a parking space right in front of your room.  At the Village Green Resort, loving attention is given to 14 acres of gardens by a master gardener and four assistants.  Accented with garden art and water features, a labyrinth, and a miniature covered bridge, the garden includes a Widow’s Walk with dark purple/black flowers.  A large enclosed pool and hot tub area is landscaped like a “palm prairie,” with bananas and tropical plants. 

My deluxe room had a nicely coordinated décor that included a handmade pillow crewel-embroidered with flowers and bees and a bed with an ivy print dust ruffle and fluffy light green comforter.  My favorite thing about my room was the private patio and garden.  A complimentary full buffet breakfast is served in the restaurant, which operates just off the lobby and has plenty of comfy booths.  An accomplished chef makes dinner there also a worthwhile option, and an adjacent lounge presents free live entertainment every evening. 

Chimney swifts nest in an old chimney on the property from March until late summer, returning at dusk and forming a swirling spiral as they descend into a tall, narrow chimney.  It sounds almost as exciting as watching Mexican free-tailed bats fly out of the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin at dusk, but it didn’t happen the night I patiently waited.  The hotel staff was surprised to hear it didn’t happen--guess we’ll just have to return ourselves and give it one more try.  Gardening workshops, plant sales, and tours are scheduled.

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image c2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Rice Hill/Oakland, Oregon: K & R Drive Inn; restaurant review

K & R Drive Inn  

201 John Long Rd., on W side of freeway, in Oakland, about 40 miles south of Eugene, (541) 849-2570.

The Umpqua Valley is famous for its well-fed cows delivering rich, rich milk that is known to make the best ice cream.  And the best place to enjoy that local ice cream is at the K & R Drive Inn, where the area’s famous Umpqua ice cream comes in 35 flavors.  It is definitely one of life’s best simple pleasures.  A one-scoop baby cone goes for $2.50, a small 6- to 7-ounce two-scoop cone for $3.50, and a large 16-ounce six-scoop cone for $6.50.  Hamburgers and fries are also available.  Unfortunately, no restrooms are provided and seating is outside only.



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image courtesy of restaurant

Veneta, Oregon: Our Daily Bread; restaurant review

Our Daily Bread 

Restaurant 88170 Territorial Rd., 15 mi. W of Eugene on Hwy. 126, in Veneta, (541) 935-4921. $.

exterior of Our Daily Bread in Veneta, Oregon

This bakery restaurant is situated on the main drag inside a small former one-room church. Family-owned and –operated, Our Daily Bread serves an extensive made-from-scratch menu as well as local wines and microbrews. The house specialty chicken borscht soup is thick and delicious and served with a big freshly baked roll. Sandwiches are positively huge--don’t miss the roast beef with horseradish sauce or The Featherbenders Grill made with turkey breast, Swiss cheese, tomato, avocado, and bacon on a grilled French roll. I recommend that two average-appetites each order a bowl of soup and share a sandwich with steak fries. That will leave some room for a piece of cake or perhaps some fresh marionberry pie. A small gift shop is stocked with Oregon wines and some local products.  

 

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image c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Troutdale, Oregon: Edgefield, The Poor Farm; restaurant review

Edgefield: The Poor Farm  

2126 SW Halsey St., (800) 669-8610, (503) 669-8610. No pets.

outdoor picnic tables at the Power Station Pub at Rhe Poor Farm
in Troutdale, Oregon

Located next door to now-trendy Gresham—it was once just a simple farm town where my own Grandpa lived his life farming strawberries and raising cattle—this fun-filled complex once actually was a real poor farm that rescued folks who had fallen on hard times. Now The Poor Farm is like a little village, with a Georgian Revival-style manor house B&B as well as many out buildings, and visitors can have a great time just wandering the property—stopping for a beer and some exceptionally tasty oversize peanuts in the Little Red Shed, followed perhaps by pizza and more beer at an outdoor picnic table at the Power Station Pub. The farm also has a fancier restaurant, a movie theater, a winery and distillery, two golf courses (1 12-hole, 1 20-hole), a spa with a saltwater soaking pool, and expansive gardens.

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image courtesy of venue