Field Trip: Willamette Heritage Center

Our next stop on our Salem Field Trip was the 

Salem Public Library.  

This may or may not seem weird for a field trip.  But my kids and I adore libraries and this one is beautiful!  Updated and modern.  So open and tons of windows.  I just loved it!  I wish it was our local public library!!  It was well worth the visit.  We could actually check out items if we wanted and it had a whole room just for books for sale. :)  They had a scavenger hunt for the kids/teens that we did as well and all the kids earned a free new book.

After the library visit, we headed to the Willamette Heritage Center.  We paid our admission and then took our lunches we brought and ate on the grounds.  The morning had been overcast and very cold.  Bone damp cold.  Right before we got to the Heritage Center, the clouds broke and the sun came out.  It warmed up nicely in the sun and we were able to enjoy our lunch outside. :)

Willametter Heritage Center

Its mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the Mid-Willamette Valley.

Outside of the mill.

To the right:  The Parsonage (1841)

To the left:  The Boon House (1847)

The Lee House (1841)

Four missionary families originally occupied this house living independently in four apartments, including the Lees, Judsons, Parrishes, and Raymonds.  The house served as headquarters for Methodist Mission operations in the Oregon Country, which included satellite stations as far north as Tacoma and east as The Dalles.  It also hosted meetings of the early provisional government and served as an early post office.  When the mission closed, it became the private residence of Judge Ruben P. Boise.  In danger of being torn down, the Lee House was stripped of its Victorian additions and moved to a temporary site awaiting a permanent home.  It was moved here in 1965.

In this house you can learn about:

History of the Methodist Mission to Oregon

Missionaries and their families

Early Education in the Oregon Country

Exhibits inside the Lee House.

The next photos are from inside The Parsonage.

The Parsonage was the 2nd frame structure built with lumber from the Mission's sawmill.  Originally designed as a duplex, it housed those missionaries who oversaw the Indian Manual Training School.  Among its residents were Rev. Gustavus Hines, Hamilton Campell, and their families.  This was the only building retained by the Methodist Church when the mission closed and it served as the parsonage for their minister and as a base for circuit riders, or itinerant preachers in the valley.  The Parsonage was originally located where the mill's water tower now stands.  

Today the exhibits take a look back at early valley residents with galleries focusing on:

The Kalapuya

Women and Children

Families

Historic Preservation

The following photos are of the inside of 

The Boon House (1847).

This is the oldest single-family house still standing in Salem.  John Boon and his family came over the Oregon Trail in 1845.  After a brief stint homesteading, the family relocated to Salem where John D. Boon became very involved in business and politics.  He co-founded the first woolen mill in Oregon and served as the last Territorial and the first State Treasurer in Oregon.  The Boon House was moved from north of downtown to its current location in 1972.  

In this house you can learn about:

The Oregon Trail

The Boon Family

Early Industry and Agriculture

Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church (1858)

This little church is also known as the "Condit Church" for one of its founding families on whose land the church was constructed.  Rev. Philip Condit and his family came to Oregon from Ohio in 1854.  The church was built as a true community effort with community members pledging $1,378.25 in cash, glass, nails, lumber, paint, Bibles, shingles, lead, and labor to complete the structure, which was finished by April 1858.  Sadly, Rev. Condit didn't live to see its completion.  The church represents a meetinghouse-style associated with early country churches.  It is one of the oldest surviving Presbyterian churches in the Pacific Northwest.  The building was moved from outside Aumsville to the museum's grounds in 1984.  Currently, the museum rents out the church for weddings and other special events.