This is the real reason I want to do this website. Here are some places that make Portland Portland. Also this is where I have links to my walking tour route and my theme tours. Not something for your 48 hour visit to Portland. These will take time to do.
More places to see
So these places are not on any ones top spot to visit in Portland but think of the them as hidden away treasures.
Parks and Gardens
This place I don’t want to tell you about. An unfound treasure that most Portlanders don’t know about. Beautiful, Tranquil, Green. Private but open to the public for now.
This is sort of our castle or hill fort. Built by past students from a Portland military academy to honor the schools founder.
First rose garden in Portland. Built in the classic 19th century style.
Neighborhood park with access to the Willamette River. Portland was once a clearing along the Willamette River and this park shows what that beach would have been like.
Located at the confluence of the Columbia River and Willamette River. Lewis and Clark paddle past the mouth of the Willamette two times and did not spot it. Fortunately the the third time was the charm. Later they build a light house at this point so ships could find it.
The trail is still a work in progress but enough is done now to show it off. This west side now stretch from North Portland all the way to Sellwood in the south.
Was a good view point before all of the trees go so tall. There is an interesting story behind the place. Now a good destination for a conditioning walk.
A walking park with view of the mountains. From farm and orchard to park to main underground water reservoir for Portland.
Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge
A restored wetland area to see wildlife and the natural wild richness of the area.
We Remember
I like that Portland has places where we can remember. Place to remember our cultural stories.
Half way down a nondescript street in Portland are a few plaques of remembrance to Hazel Hall. An all but forgotten poet who watched the world go by from her upstairs window as she was wheelchair bound. From here she fashioned her poetry as she did needle point to make a living. At her height of fame she was compared to Emily Dickinson.
A place to remember and to never forget. A place to read the stories for when when we loose our stories we loose our civilization.
Vietnam Veterans of Oregon Memorial
In memory of those who lost their lives in Vietnam.
Tours and Walks to know Portland
Portland Walks
Portland survives and works because it is a cluster of neighborhoods. Some of these neighborhoods have been key to the rebirth of Portland. The ones I have chosen are still wonderful and interesting places to visit today.
The first neighborhood to begin the Portland transition. Now pretty gentrified.
Think Berkeley in the 60s with a Portlandia twist.
The Oregon Territory started here. Now it is going for a rebirth but in a conservative fashion.
More walks are on my Self Guided Walking Tours Page.
The bigger picture. To know where you are going it helps to know where you have been. These tours are a fun way go back and learn where Portland came from. It gives an idea why we are the way we are and where we need to go.
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