OTE - Oregon Travel Experience

Pyrus communis

This pear tree is one of the oldest and largest in Oregon. It is the lone survivor of an orchard planted by the Munkre family, later known as Hager’s Grove. Benjamin Franklin Munkre brought his family to Oregon from Missouri in the middle 1800s. The orchard bordered a once popular creekside camping and playground area.

Tree Facts

Approx. height: 65′

Age: Over 150 years

Circumference: 9′

Dedicated on: April 11, 1997

Location: The Hager Pear …

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Various species

The Grove of the States is an arboretum of state trees for all 50 states, originally planted in 1967. It is believed to be the oldest grove of state trees in the country.

History of the Arboretum

In 1967 Oregon Attorney General  Robert Y. Thornton hosted the 61st annual conference of the National Association of Attorneys General in Portland. As part of a conference event, Thornton planned for the Grove …

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Acer palmatum

This Greenleaf Japanese Maple was planted by Governor Tom McCall in late 1973 or early 1974 during his second term of office. McCall is remembered for many environmental achievements, such as the “Beach Bill” which granted the state government the power to zone Oregon’s beaches, thus protecting them from private development, and the “Bottle Bill” which was the nation’s first mandatory bottle-deposit law, designed to decrease litter in Oregon.

Tree …

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Picea sitchensis

Before Columbus sailed to the Americas, this Sitka spruce began its life nourished by a nurse log. As it grew, it shared Cape Creek with the Indians who lived just one-half mile west at their large seasonal campsite by the ocean. When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp at Cape Perpetua in the early 1930’s, they built the first trail to the Giant Spruce, likely reopening the …

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Various species

GeerCrest Farm was established in 1847, before Oregon became a U.S. Territory. Ralph Geer started his nursery and orchards with apple and pear seeds he brought over the Oregon Trail. He traded root stock for grafting wood with the Luelling-Meek nursery. Their successful cooperation helped to establish the fruit growing industry on the west coast.

Tree Facts

Species: Varied, including 24 pear trees, four plum trees, one apple, one Hawthorn tree, …

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Thuja plicata

The grove of western redcedar trees at North Fork Crossing was planted by Frank Lockyear and his Boy Scout troop in 1934 in an area burned by fire in 1929. This was the first of hundreds of tree planting projects organized by Lockyear as he dedicated his life to reforestation. In 1973, Lockyear founded ReTree International to plant trees worldwide and to involve and educate youth about the importance …

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Syringa vulgaris

The original start of this lilac tree was brought from Maine to Oregon in 1843 by Mary Charlotte Foster, wife of Philip Foster, partner with Sam Barlow on the Barlow Road. The Fosters sailed Cape Horn and Mary Charlotte planted the lilac immediately upon her arrival in Oregon City. She moved it five times, replanting it at each of her homes. It was planted at its current location in …

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Quercus garryana

Ewing Young, a former fur trapper and trader, settled in the Chehalem Valley in 1834 and died here in 1841. His death directly led to the Champoeg Meeting and the beginning of the organization of the Provisional Government in 1843. On May 6, 1846 an acorn was planted here on his grave near his cabin by Miranda Bayley and Sidney Smith.

Tree Facts

Crown spread: 88′

Date of dedication: April 7, 1999

Age …

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Ellmaker Grove

In 1857, Enos and Elizabeth Fisher Ellmaker traded donation land claims with Levi W. and Mary Malinda Zumwalt. The Ellmakers built their house and blacksmith shop by this Oregon white oak, while nearby incense-cedar sheltered their livestock. The bigleaf maples, planted along the driveway by the Ellmakers, linked blacksmith shop customers to the ancient route sometimes known as a branch of the Applegate Trail.

Location: Zumwalt Park, near the town …

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Sequoia sempervirens

Israel Fisk Eddy planted this tree in the 1880s on land that President Andrew Johnson had removed from the Oregon Coast Reservation in 1865. Israel’s grist mill, grocery store, and post office were integral in building this community, then called Little Elk. A railroad aimed to make Yaquina Bay the terminus of its transcontinental route and crossed Israel’s land. Israel said yes, but only if the depot was renamed …

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