On the west side of 1,000-foot-high Heceta Head, 205 feet above the ocean, the lighthouse is one of the most photographed on the coast. The light at top of 56-foot tower was illuminated in 1894; the automated beacon, seen 21 miles from land, is rated as the strongest light on the Oregon coast.
The site offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.
The Society owns and operates the Oregon Electric Railway Museum, the largest trolley museum in the Pacific Northwest.
The museum offers exhibits and trolley rides.
The Pittock Mansion was home to Portland pioneers Henry and Georgiana Pittock from 1914 to 1919. During the late 1800s and the early 1900s, their lives and work paralleled the growth of Portland from a small Northwest town site to a thriving city with a quarter million population. With its eclectic architectural design and richly decorated interior, including family artifacts, the Pittock Mansion stands today as a living memorial of this family's contributions to the blossoming of Portland and its people.
The mansion offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and historical events.
The Society's Museum presents displays on topics including the Oregon Trail, historic vehicles, the 1920s and 1930s, and early crafts and historic photographs.
The society offers occasional recreational and educational events; the museum offers exhibits, tours, and research library access.
The Society maintains the 1861 Brunk House and a museum displaying exhibits on local history. Visitors to the Museum can explore a unique composite of 21 historic maps that locate the nearly 600 claims of the Donation Land Act in Polk County; learn more about the Kalapuya tribe that occupied Polk County; and enjoy exhibits of agriculture, logging, and the 28 townsites that were in Polk County at one time. Visitors to the Brunk House can see what life was like on an 1861 farmstead.
The society offers lectures and research library access; the museum offers exhibits; the Brunk House offers tours.
This Powder River was the vein of life during the boom days of the gold rush. The landscape still bears the scars. Miles of tailings line the banks of the river, a remembrance from the prosperous days of mining. The Sumpter Valley Dredge left much of the rocky footprint that visitors can see on their trek along Highway 7. The dredge is an important link to Oregon's pioneering past and development. It is one of the largest and most accessible gold dredges in the U.S., and the last of three built on the Powder River. Built in 1935, it ran until 1954. It dug up more than four million dollars worth by a simple, but dramatic method.
The site offers interpretive services, according to the website; however, the services are not described.
The site
The Museum features interactive exhibits that combine history and technology. Visitors of all ages will experience what it is like to pilot a tugboat, participate in a Coast Guard rescue on the Columbia River Bar, and live in Astoria during the height of the salmon fishing. Huge windows make the Columbia River a living backdrop for classic fishing vessels and Coast Guard rescue craft. Visitors can experience first hand how the Bar Pilots work the dangerous wind and waves during a fierce winter storm in the award-winning orientation film "The Great River of the West." They can walk on board the bridge of a World-War-II-era US Navy Destroyer; see the world-class collection of maritime artifacts; and then walk out to the dock to explore the Lightship Columbia, a floating lighthouse.
The museum offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and educational and recreational events and programs.
The Center is a nonprofit resource center and showcase for historic preservation. It offers a wide range of education programs and exhibits to help people appreciate, restore, and maintain vintage properties. The Center includes two exhibition galleries, two classrooms, workshop space, a library, collections storage spaces and the Foundation's offices. Its exhibits display artifacts from its extensive collection of architectural hardware, fixtures, and other objects.
The center offers exhibits, lectures, tours, and other educational and recreational programs.
The Society operates two house museums. The 1872 Lee House was home to Dr. Norman Lee, one of Junction City's first doctors. It was originally located in Lancaster and was moved to its present location in the late 1800s using logs and a team of horses; it now displays photos, furniture, tools, and clothing from Junction City's past. The 1871 Pitney House belonged to Mary Pitney (1891—1995), a school teacher, published poet, painter, world traveler, and humanitarian. Born and raised in this house, she lived the later years of her life here; today, it is being restored and features a room devoted to Danish historical artifacts from Junction City's first settlers, a cutaway of the home in the kitchen so visitors can see how buildings were constructed in that time period, and Mary's original furniture in the living room. Next door to the Pitney House is the first jail, built in 1873.
The houses offer exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.
The Linn County Historical Museum is housed in Brownsville's original railroad depot and holds collections and information representing all of Linn County. The museum also cares for the Moyer House, an elegant home completed in 1881 by pioneering figures of Brownsville.
The museum and house offer exhibits, tours, and occasional living history events.