OTE - Oregon Travel Experience

Ulmus americana– American elm

In 1912, Belle and Ralph Jenkins purchased what is now the Jenkins Estate, Belle, the daughter of a prominent Portland businessman, Capt. J.C. Ainsworth, planted the Elm grove between the original farmhouse and the main house in the style of an old English Estate. American elms were a popular street tree in the early part of the 20th century, but have since been widely devastated due to …

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Pinus ponderosa- Ponderosa Pine

Located adjacent to the route of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail, the Indian Village Grove provides lasting evidence of the spring camp used in this vicinity by the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) people. Large oval scars on the tree trunks were created in the late 1800’s when the Nimiipuu peeled the outer bark of the tree and then skimmed the inner bark with a scraper. The cambium …

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Juniperous occidentalis – Western Juniper

Along this mile-long extant section of the Huntington Wagon Road, four juniper trees bear the ‘blazes’ of early travelers in the late 19th century. Three trees were blazed to mark the direction of the road. Soldiers camped along the road during the 1870s also blazed one juniper with a target for shooting practice. Large caliber bullet holes are still visible in the “Target Tree” today.

Tree Facts

Age: …

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Pyrus communis– Winter Nelis

This Winter Nelis pear tree, planted in 1879, is associated with the boyhood years of President Herbert Hoover. When the 11 year-old Hoover arrived here from Iowa in 1885 to live with his uncle John Minthorn and family, he joined his aunt and cousins in the task of making pear butter. Hoover later wrote that after the ill effects of an almost exclusive pear diet for two …

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Pyrus communis

This small grove of Comice pear trees are the only remaining of an original planting known as Harry & David Bear Creek Orchards Block 1A. Harry & David Corporation became internationally renowned in 1932 when they began marketing their gift boxes of pears to the rich and famous. While most pear growers were hurt by the Great Depression, Harry & David brought unexpected prosperity to the economically depressed Rogue …

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Salix babylonica– Weeping willow

In 1860, Martha Hanley planted this weeping willow to commemorate the birth of her son. The willow cutting was obtained from the pioneer Luelling Nursery in the Willamette Valley and delivered by Martha’s friend Kit Kearney, an express rider, who stuck it in a potato to keep it from drying out. The tree flourished and the Hanley farmstead eventually became know as “The Willows.”

Tree Facts

Height: 30 ft

Date …

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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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