OTE - Oregon Travel Experience

Quercus garrayana

The Signature Oak is a symbol of the lasting importance of the Oregon white oak to the ecology and culture of the Willamette Valley. It is the oldest and largest tree in a grove of Oregon white oaks that predates settlement of the Willamette Valley by European immigrants and their descendants. The latest native inhabitants of the region were the Santiam group of the Kalapuyan tribe.

Native people in the …

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Mixed Grove

Established by Adam R. Shipley in 1862, the grove surrounding the farmhouse across the meadow, exemplifies early settlers planting trees from their home states. Shipley, a leader in the pioneer community of Hazelia, served as State Grange Master and Regent for Oregon Agricultural College. The Cook Family has served as stewards of this impressive grove since James P. Cook purchased the farm from the Shipleys in 1900.

Tree Facts

Planted:  1860’s …

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Pinus radiata – Monterey Pine

This Monterey pine was planted between 1906 and 1921 by the Simpson family as part of their extensive estate. Louis J. Simpson was a lumberman, shipbuilder, and founder of the city of North Bend. In 1942, Simpson sold his estate to Oregon, designating it as a park. This tree was recognized in 2002 as the largest of its species in the United States by the National …

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Carya ovata – Hickory

This tree sits on property settled in 1868 by W.S. Frazier, the founder of Milton, Oregon. The Frazier family carried the hickory nuts along the Oregon Trail from their home in Texas. The nuts were planted shortly after their arrival.

Approx. height: 60′

Planted in: late 1860’s

Circumference: 6′ 6″

Dedicated on: April 4, 1998

Location: Frazier Farmstead Museum, 1403 Chestnut St., Milton-Freewater

Populus trichocarpa – Black cottonwood

In 1854, fifteen-year-old Florinda Geer stuck her black cottonwood riding switch in the ground after returning from a horse ride. The stripling took root and grew to become this monumental tree. Florinda married Timothy Davenport and in 1868 gave birth to Homer Davenport, the nationally famous political cartoonist, who spent many of his early years at this homestead. The Daughters of the American Revolution first memorialized …

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Pseudotsuga menziesii – Douglas fir

When most other Douglas fir was logged to create farmland, this fir remained as a landmark on the 640-acre Donation Land Claim of Robert Valentine Short. A land surveyor, R.V. Short surveyed claims throughout the northern Willamette Valley, and in 1850 created the first plat of Portland. He was a member of the first Oregon Constitutional Convention, the first Yamhill County surveyor, and a state legislator.

Tree …

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Fagus sylvatica – Copper beech

This European copper beech tree has witnessed more than 100 years of urban development. In the 1890s, Joseph and Mary Watson planted this beech tree in front of their home in what was a quiet neighborhood on the edge of Portland. The Watson family had deep ties to Oregon’s iron and banking industries and Portland city politics. In the 1960s, Portland State University purchased the site …

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Populus trichocarpa – Black cottonwood

This black cottonwood is prominent in photographs taken in 1900 and 1901 to document where the vote for a Provisional Government in Oregon took place. Francis X. Matthieu, the last living participant of the 1843 vote, is shown setting the location of this site in 1900 and unveiling the monument here in the ceremony of 1901. The area around the monument is believed to be the …

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Acer macrophyllum– Bigleaf maple

This bigleaf maple is believed to have been a meeting place for Clackamas Indian people and by tradition is called the Pow-Wow Tree. It marked the site of the first Clackamas County Fair in 1860 and the first Oregon State Fair in 1861. It was later honored at the 1937 Gladstone Pow-Wow celebration and recognized again in 1979 as an American Bicentennial tree. The tree has become …

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