Heritage Barn Workshop heads to Champoeg
In 1862 Donald Manson pioneered the Oregon art of sustainable construction. Using timbers salvaged from the flood-ravaged town of Champoeg, Manson built a new barn. His barn and its reclaimed components now form the focal point of the visitor center compound at Champoeg State Park where Restore Oregon will host its Heritage Barn Workshop on […]
My Love Affair With Restore Oregon
When I was involved with efforts to save the Dr. Pierce Barn in Cottage Grove, I was in a highly charged, impassioned state most of the time. Darn it, I CARED about saving this old barn! We formed a group of ordinary citizens, called ourselves People Who Love the Barn, and set out to stop […]
What do you know about Sunnyside School?
The journey started with a mid-summer email: What do you know about Sunnyside School? The response added to a high-speed—at least in preservation terms—adventure in negotiations, fund-raising, and stick-to-it-iveness. Corvallis’ century-old Sunnyside School was historically known as Bryant School and Mudflat School due to the surrounding swampy area and muddy roads. Before 1897, a one-room […]
Saving the Remnants of Our Pioneer Places
Last year, Restore Oregon listed the categorical group of Willamette Valley Pioneer Houses and Farmsteads as one of Oregon’s Most Endangered Places. Often referred to as “Oregon’s oldest buildings,” these handmade buildings marked the end of the Oregon Trail from 1841 to 1865. While their significance to our state’s history is paramount, these buildings are […]
Rediscovering Settlement-Era Homesteads in the Willamette Valley
Since the 1960s, Oregon’s state and local governments have conducted architectural field surveys of groupings of older buildings, each with varying levels of significance and importance, in order to document and understand Oregon’s historic places. One that was completed over the last year holds special significance to the history, people, and development of Oregon as […]