Farms and Vineyards around Newberg, Oregon - Newberg OR Off the Beaten Path

Preview: Eons old, with rivers meandering through and bisecting its green hills and rich alluvial soils, the Willamette Valley was surely a welcome sight to the weary pioneers fresh off the Oregon Trail. Out of those abundant soils grew many farms in the 1840s and 1850s and, much later, the hundreds of orchards, nurseries, gardens, and vineyards that continue to thrive in this moist and mild zone between the high Cascade and lower Coast Range mountains and the Pacific Ocean. This gentle region, now scattered with cities, towns, hamlets, and inviting side roads that skirt Interstate 5 and old Highways 99E and 99W, was also home to the Calapooya Indians. For thousands of years they roamed throughout the broad valley, digging tiny bulbs of the purple camas in early spring, picking juicy blackberries in late summer, and hunting deer and fishing its rivers and streams nearly year-round. If you visit in mid-May, you’ll see waves of purple camas blooming along roadsides in meadows throughout the valley. To get acquainted with this large region, which lies like an enormous green carpet between the mountains and the ocean, first head south from Portland on I–5 past Wilsonville to Champoeg State Park. This 567-acre park preserves the historic site of the May 2, 1843, meeting at which valley settlers, by a narrow vote, established the first organized territorial government in the Northwest. George Abernethy was elected the territory’s first governor. Champoeg was later an important stagecoach stop, trading post, and river landing for steamboats. From 1850 to 1916 more than fifty steamboats took on passengers, mail, and produce and traversed both the lower and upper sections of the Willamette River south from Portland and Oregon City. To skirt the wide cascading Willamette Falls at Oregon City, the boats navigated the four chambers of Willamette Falls Locks, on the West Linn side of the river, reaching the upper stream. Regular stops in those early days included landings at Champoeg, Salem, Albany, Corvallis, and, finally, Eugene, some 100 miles south. The river was the region’s “main street” in those days. The above description is an excerpt from "Oregon: Off the Beaten Path." Whether you're a visitor or a local looking for something different, this chapter from the Off the Beaten Path series will help you take the "road less traveled" and discover hidden attractions, unique finds, and unusual locales that most tourists miss.
© Copyright Myrna Oakley published by Insiders' Guide all rights reserved.


This travel guide comes from:
Oregon Off the Beaten Path Guide Book