Lake Oswego: Oswego Iron Furnace

This is another stop on Oregon's Mt. Hood Territory Heritage Trail. You may also find it listed as Oregon Iron Smelter or Foundry.

As it is, Oregon Iron was the company, and they built this, the first iron furnace on the Pacific Coast in 1866.

It was not the last built, but it is the last surviving furnace west of the Rockies, giving it importance both for its place in the timeline and its endurance.

This was one of our favorite locations on the trail. It has lots of well-designed signage making it easy to learn about the area, the workers, and the factory processes.

That includes two examples of "salamanders", the plugs of iron ore left over after the process.

I appreciated the use of timelines and graphs, along with text and photographs. All was well-designed.

In addition, it is now a nice park, with beautiful views and access to Lake Oswego.

There is public art and rest rooms.

Along with picnic benches, there are cooking areas that vaguely resemble the furnace.

You are relatively close to two other Heritage Trail stops: Oswego Heritage House and Rogerson Clematis Gardens. Other parks and trails are also nearby.

Given our past issues with navigating Lake Oswego, this was also relatively easy to find.

I have no reservations in recommending the Oswego Iron Furnace:

COVID: All outdoors. I can conceive it getting more crowded in summer, but at least for our trip distancing was easy.

Accessibility: This seemed pretty good. There were smooth paths, and these appeared to go all the way down to the shore, though we did not follow them that far.

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oswego_iron_furnace/

Oregon City: Inside Ermatinger House

We had looked at the outside of the Francis Ermatinger House before, but even then it was barely mentioned in a post about the McLoughlin Promenade. 

Part of that is that it had not been open at the time that we started exploring Oregon City. That was partly due to COVID and partly due to needed repairs.

We actually discovered that it was reopened on the McLoughlin Promenade Ghost Tour, where it was one of the stops. Even though it is officially "not haunted", that just made us want to go more.

One thing I had not realized was that Mrs. Ermatinger was John McLaughlin' granddaughter. When he was building houses for various people, I was thinking that he was a really generous person and employer. Actually, I still think he is, but the Ermatingers, at least, were more than business associates.

Grandpa.

There are a variety of interesting artifacts in the house, like this spoon that once belonged to Captain Couch.

Other items may not be tied to prominent individuals, but they show what was popular at the time.

In addition, there are items tied to the history of the area, like this Hudson Bay Company blanket, or this top hat.

It may be especially interesting for those interested in architecture or historic preservation, for at places in the 1843 house you can see the original wood, roofing, and samples of old wallpaper.

Two other visitors had opted for the guided tour. We joined them, and found it really enriching. We recommend that.

As we happened to visit at Christmas time, there were some seasonal decorations.

We also got some small gift packs left over from an event, and it was a nice touch.

The Ermatinger House was never intended to last for 180 years, and yet here it is. It may even have been the site of the coin toss that named Portland. Seems worth a visit.

COVID: Masks are not required, and the other visitors were not wearing them. It fortunately was not crowded.

Accessibility: Not great. There has been a ramp added that can get you from the outside to the first floor, but there are stairs and some of the passages are not particularly wide.

https://www.orcity.org/parksandrecreation/ermatinger-house

PDX: The Oregon Historical Society

I have already written about the Motown exhibition and "I Am An American":

"Motown" had been one of our goals, but "I am an American" was a surprise. 

That is a pretty common OHS experience; no matter what you have in mind you will find more. We went for the Santaland exhibit, now including an old Cinnamon Bear costume.

I know some unfamiliar with the bear have found the eyes disturbing, but we had familiarity on our side.

Then, as part of that display, there is this cat doll. It is probably supposed to be Felix, but it reminded me more of the classic Kit-Cat Klock. That would make a lot of sense, as it was invented in Oregon.

https://kit-cat.com/about-us/

We also went for the exhibit on the Jantzen Beach Carousel.

It's a topic we're interested in, and we know some things about restoration, but I had not known much about Jantzen Beach. 

For as long as I can remember, that was a mall, that happened to have a carousel, and it was also the name of the swimsuit company, but I didn't really think about that.

In fact, Jantzen Beach functioned as an amusement park/boardwalk, and it was built to encourage the sale of swimsuits.

It closed in 1970, leading to other commercial development, like the mall. That's before I was born, so it makes sense that I didn't know, but many of the adults who were around when I was a child might have visited and known about it. I could easily have known if it has come up.

It is interesting what stays in the public consciousness, and what doesn't. Also, apparently it was much more common to build amusement parks. 

Museums and historical societies make it easier to remember what might be forgotten, as well as helping us to interpret what we do know. On project to help this is the Oregon Encyclopedia, which I discovered through a sign while there.

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/

Though the most unexpected find may have been that urinals for women was once a thing. And the Historical Society has one.

But mainly, the Historical Society is a place to learn more about and appreciate Oregon.

COVID:

Better than some. Not everyone was masked, but we were not the only ones, and an upcoming lecture on the Far Right in Oregon will be virtual. They are still holding off on bringing in Santa and putting children on his lap, though they do still have Santa's throne.

Accessibility: Mostly good once inside the building, but the ramp to get to the main entrances seems a little steep. It may have seemed worse given the wetness of the day.

https://www.ohs.org/

Related posts:

https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2019/02/oregon-historical-society.html