by Geon, Bryan
Many newcomers choose these outlying areas because they are looking for small-town ambiance within striking distance of the amenities of a large city. Ironically, these attributes attract growth and sprawl, which in turn threaten to erode the small-town ambiance. (This dilemma is hardly unique to southwest Washington.) The continuing livability of these communities will likely depend on the way in which they manage (or attempt to manage) their growth.
As in other parts of Clark County, transportation is an issue of concern. If you don’t have a job in these communities or nearby in Clark or Cowlitz Counties, be sure to test your anticipated commute before committing to buying a home here. C-TRAN’s Connector service offers very limited service from La Center and Ridgefield to Vancouver, where transfers to the regular bus system are available.
Amboy and Yacolt
These northern Clark County communities offer acreage, quiet, and long, long commutes. With an economy traditionally based on logging and agriculture, this area remains in large part a working rural landscape; mud-splattered pickup trucks outnumber passenger cars, there is no Starbucks for miles, and the local grange is still active. Many residents, even those who are not farmers, keep horses, llamas, or other large animals. Most homes here are relatively modest ranch homes or old farmhouses on farms or large lots; a few new, ostentatious homes are going up in choice spots in the region’s verdant valleys or on forested hillsides. Some homes have views of Mount St. Helens.
Yacolt
Each July, unincorporated Amboy hosts Territorial Days, which features such events as logging demonstrations and lawn mower drag races. Yacolt, best known for the devastating Yacolt Burn of 1902, the largest forest fire in Northwest history, was incorporated six years after the conflagration; it is the terminus of the Battle Ground, Yacolt, and Chelatchie Prairie Railroad, a scenic excursion train. Both communities offer a small range of essential services—groceries, auto repair, pizza, and the like—but most residents travel to Battle Ground or Vancouver for shopping. Yacolt has a primary school and Amboy has a middle school, both of which are part of the Battle Ground School District (www.battlegroundps.org). Public transportation is essentially nonexistent, barring a single bus line, running once per weekday in each direction, to Vancouver and North Portland.
Other Outlying Communities
Columbia County and Sauvie Island
Sauvie Island (often referred to colloquially as “Sauvie’s Island”) lies at the mouth of the Willamette River, between Multnomah Channel and the Columbia River. Sauvie is a classic delta island—flat, rich farmland dotted with shallow lakes and sloughs—and despite its proximity to Portland, the island is wholly rural. The forested Tualatin Mountains rise to the west, and on clear days a procession of Cascade peaks appears in the east. The island is unincorporated, and has a single grade school—after sixth grade, island children go to school in Scappoose. A bridge over Multnomah Channel near the southern tip of the island provides the only road access to the mainland, and power outages are frequent during winter storms.
Sauvie Island
Sauvie Island is a popular choice for people who like isolation and crave a rural lifestyle, but island living doesn’t come cheap: The median price of a home here is just about the highest in the metro area, and some spreads are in the multimillion-dollar range (although almost every dwelling comes with acreage). Moreover, isolation doesn’t equal solitude; the island’s beaches, wildlife refuges, U-pick farms, and fall pumpkin patches and corn mazes attract hordes of visitors (and bicyclists, who enjoy the flat, scenic roads), and it can take a long time to get on or off the island on weekends in summer and autumn. A TriMet bus line with all-day service runs from the southern tip of the island to downtown Portland. (Note that more than half of Sauvie Island is actually within Multnomah County, but it has more affinities with predominantly rural Columbia County than with highly urbanized Multnomah County.)
The Columbia County line is a few miles north of the Sauvie Island Bridge. Columbia County has long been dependent on forest products and related industries for jobs; many long-time Portlanders don’t think of it as part of the metropolitan area at all, even though Scappoose, the southernmost town in the county, is not much farther from downtown Portland than Wilsonville. The area is growing and evolving, however, with an influx of new residents who seek small-town living (and lower housing costs) within reach of jobs in the Portland area. Many of these new residents commute over the Tualatin Mountains to the tech centers of Washington County.
Scappoose
Scappoose (www.ci.scappoose.or.us) stands opposite the northern end of Sauvie Island, about 20 miles north of downtown Portland. This small city’s older neighborhoods and commercial establishments cluster along Highway 30 and the train tracks that run beside it; a farmers’ market takes place in the city center (such as it is) on Saturdays in season. There are some small developments of new homes in Scappoose proper, but most newer houses perch in the hills just west of town; some hillside homes have expansive views over Sauvie Island to the Cascades. Other houses are tucked away in shady canyons. Scappoose itself lacks river frontage, although Scappoose Bay to the north has a marina and some of the best flatwater kayaking in the state. About eight miles north, St. Helens (www.ci.st-helens.or.us), the county seat, is on the Columbia River, and takes advantage of its setting. The city’s “Olde Towne” historic district spreads out along the riverfront, which also features a marina with a few houseboats; the city is located far enough north that Mount St. Helens, not Mount Hood, dominates the eastern horizon. St. Helens’s older homes are concentrated in this area. Newer homes spread out in subdivisions to the west, between the riverfront and Highway 30, and as in Scappoose many homes outside of town are set in hollows in the hills west of Highway 30. Just to the north of St. Helens, much smaller Columbia City (www.columbia-city.org) hugs the riverfront and the hillside just behind it.
St. Helens
The Scappoose School District (www.scappoose.k12.or.us) serves Scappoose and Sauvie Island; the St. Helens School District (www.sthelens.k12.or.us) covers St. Helens and Columbia City. Commuting to Portland is via Highway 30, which is not a freeway for most of the way and which carries a high volume of truck traffic. Commuters to Washington County face the choice of driving into Portland and out the frequently snarled Sunset Highway, or winding over the Tualatin Mountains on Cornelius Pass Road. Although St. Helens is essentially just across the river from Ridgefield, Washington, there are no highway bridges between Longview and Vancouver, so commuting to Clark County is not an easy or quick option (unless you own a boat and have access to docks on both sides of the Columbia). The only transit service in Columbia County is the Columbia County Rider (www.columbiacountyrider.com), which provides limited commuter service between St. Helens/Scappoose and downtown Portland, Longview, and Portland Community College’s Rock Creek campus; the trip from St. Helens to any of these destinations takes about an hour.
County Website: www.co.columbia.or.us
Yamhill County
Yamhill County, southwest of Portland, is the heart of Oregon’s wine country. Yamhill County is a less-moneyed, more laid-back version of California’s Napa County, but don’t let the dearth of Hollywood names fool you: winemakers here are serious about their product. The region is especially renowned for its Pinot Noir, which is among the very best in the world.
Of course, vineyards do not wholly, or even mostly, cover the county; the western half of the county encompasses a large, forested chunk of the Coast Range, while several small cities dot the landscape in the eastern half of the county. The closest of these cities to Portland is Newberg (www.newbergoregon.gov), set picturesquely between the Willamette River and the Chehalem Mountains. This fast-growing city of about 23,000 people has an old-fashioned downtown (www.newbergdowntown.org), with a nearby neighborhood of historic homes (including Herbert Hoover’s boyhood home, which is now a museum) featuring a number of impressive, century-plus-old landscape trees. The city has an abundance of m
ore recently built homes, including hillside homes, as well as some brand-new developments and a large selection of apartment complexes. The presence of George Fox University ensures that Newberg has a more active cultural calendar than it otherwise would.
Newberg
A few miles down the highway, the much smaller (and somewhat quainter) city of Dundee (www.dundeecity.org) features a couple of respected bistros and even some wineries right on the main drag. If you crave your own terroir—and if you don’t know what that means, you probably aren’t interested—expensive homes on grape-planted acreage are available just outside either city. Homes on the Chehalem Mountains or the Dundee Hills are especially coveted for viticulture, and offer incredible views across the Willamette Valley to the Cascades. Newberg Public Schools (www.newberg.k12.or.us) serve both communities.
Dundee
Still farther down Highway 99W, McMinnville (www.ci.mcminnville.or.us) is the largest city in the county (about 33,000 residents). Like Newberg, McMinnville is undergoing substantial growth, and many new developments have sprung up around town. The city’s pleasant downtown (www.downtownmcminnville.com) was largely built up during the period from 1880 to 1920, and is filled with restaurants, wine bars and cafés, interesting (and not-so-interesting) shops, the Mack Theater (opened in 1941), and the Hotel Oregon (another McMenamins restoration), with its popular rooftop bar. A farmers’ market is held on Thursdays during the summer. The adjacent residential neighborhoods are filled with older homes, including some restored Victorians; more modern homes and low-rise apartment buildings dominate the rest of the city. Just south of downtown, Linfield College hosts an International Pinot Noir Celebration every summer. For now, the giant Spruce Goose airplane spreads its comically long wings at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum (www.evergreenmuseum.org), just outside town; the museum has an associated indoor waterpark that incorporates a rooftop Boeing 747. (The future of the museum/waterpark complex is in doubt at press time, due to the bankruptcy of Evergreen International Aviation.) McMinnville has its own school district (www.msd.k12.or.us). Although most areas of McMinnville are quite safe, a few neighborhoods are pretty dodgy, and the city has a surprisingly high rate of crime given its rural setting. That said, the city overall has a standard-issue small-town vibe; average housing prices are among the lowest in the Portland-Vancouver-Salem area.
McMinnville
Although they are by no means remote, the communities of Yamhill County aren’t really close to any major cities. Newberg and Dundee are reasonable possibilities for commuters to jobs in Portland’s southwestern suburbs, such as Tigard, Tualatin, or Wilsonville; McMinnville is within striking distance of Salem. If you’re seriously considering a move to Yamhill County, be aware that Highway 99W, the main artery that connects Yamhill County to Portland, has a chronic congestion problem. While it’s not really a barrier to weekend sightseeing, traffic congestion hampers commuters and dampens the area’s economic growth. The state has begun construction on the first phase of an expressway that will bypass Newberg and Dundee, which is scheduled to open in 2017, but the remaining phases are unfunded; in other words, traffic will remain an issue, at least in the short-term. Yamhill County Transit Area (www.yctransitarea.org) provides limited bus service within Yamhill County and from county towns to Salem, Sherwood, and Hillsboro.
If you’re looking for a small town in wine country, others worth checking out include Amity, Yamhill, Carlton, Lafayette, and Dayton.
County Website: www.co.yamhill.or.us
Marion County
The farmlands and rolling, wooded hills of Marion County lie smack-dab astride the mid-Willamette Valley, one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions. The region produces a range of crops, from iris bulbs to hazelnuts, and is perhaps best known as the home of the Marionberry, a tasty blackberry hybrid that was named after the county and has no relation to the former mayor of Washington, D.C. If you suffer from hay fever, beware: the central Willamette Valley has many grass farms, and in late spring high concentrations of grass pollen mean misery for allergy sufferers.
The town of Aurora (www.ci.aurora.or.us) began its existence in the 1850s as the Aurora Colony, a commune of German Christians—a Northwestern version of the Amana colonies. The commune eventually faded away, but left behind the nucleus of the city’s historic district (www.auroracolony.com). Today, the historic district is packed with antique stores and small eateries; Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage (www.auroramills.com) and the Old Aurora Colony Museum are also located here. The neighborhood south of the historic center is a mix of century-old homes and postwar ranches. (A working train line runs nearby; beware if you’re sensitive to rumbling and train whistles.) Some new housing developments are beginning to crop up on the outskirts of the city, but for now Aurora remains surrounded by agricultural land and the city maintains a laid-back, small-town atmosphere. The city is also home to a popular general aviation airport—the third busiest airport in the state—which makes Aurora (along with the nearby Charbonneau district of Wilsonville) a convenient place for avid private pilots to live. (Noise abatement procedures discourage pilots from overflying town.)
Aurora
A public bus line links Aurora with Canby and the city of Woodburn (www.woodburn-or.gov), a major trade and service center for the northern Willamette Valley. Many Portlanders know Woodburn as the site of the Woodburn Premium Outlets mall just off Interstate 5, but there’s much more to the city. Highway 99E, which parallels I-5 to the east, is a strip mall lined with supermarkets, chain restaurants, and taquerias, but the adjacent neighborhoods contain plenty of modest single-family homes and apartments. A busy set of train tracks abuts Woodburn’s tiny downtown; to the west lies a pleasant district of historic homes on tree-lined streets. Some new housing developments are rising in the fields that surround the town. Woodburn’s official nickname is “City of Unity,” which reflects the city’s unusually diverse population, including large contingents of Hispanics and Russian Orthodox Old Believers. If you happen to have a highly polluting car—and shame on you if you do—you should know that Woodburn is at the northern frontier of the zone where emissions tests are not required; residents of all Oregon towns and cities farther north have to take their vehicles to DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) testing stations every two years. Northwest of Woodburn, the tiny, historic city of St. Paul (no website) is best known for its annual rodeo, held each year on July 4 (www.stpaulrodeo.com).
Woodburn
Charming Silverton (www.silverton.or.us), set amid fields and orchards at the edge of the Cascade foothills, is an increasingly popular destination for a day trip or weekend getaway, but it also attracts newcomers who like the scenic location and small-town vibe. Neighborhoods of old bungalows and cottages surround a traditional downtown, filled with murals illustrating the city’s history; outlying areas feature ranches and newer contemporary homes, and true farm living is just outside the city. In terms of landscape, Silverton offers a mix of flat bottomland and rolling hills; hilltop homes feature gorgeous views of the nearby Cascades. Area attractions include the Oregon Garden and beautiful Silver Falls State Park. While too far from Portland for comfortable commuting for most people, Silverton may be a reasonable choice for people who work in Salem or at the southern end of the Portland metropolitan area (e.g., Wilsonville).
Silverton
A few miles north of Silverton, charming, sleepy Mt. Angel (www.ci.mt-angel.or.us) celebrates its Swiss and German heritage with a glockenspiel in its small downtown area and a popular Oktoberfest (www.oktoberfest.org), held confusingly in September. Homes in Mt. Angel run the gamut from old farm cottages to large contemporary-style homes and everything in between, sometimes all on the same street. The landscape becomes rural within a mile or so in any direction. On a hill just east of town stands handsome Mt. Angel Abbey, home to a library designed by famed Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
Salem (www.cityofsalem.net), Oregon’s state capital and second-larges
t city, is not the urban dynamo one might expect. The city core, around the state capitol building, bustles with activity when Oregon’s part-time legislature is in session, but has a quiet, small-town feel the rest of the year. Except for a few bars, downtown Salem mostly shuts down in the evening after the state workers go home, although that situation is gradually changing. A few good new restaurants draw evening diners year-round, and the (rather limited) selection of cultural offerings is slowly expanding; downtown Salem even hosts a talented improv troupe (Capitol City Theater, www.capitolcitytheater.com). The city has redeveloped part of the Willamette River waterfront into a park, there is a new convention center, and downtown has a handful of upscale condos. Can high-end restaurants and posh boutiques be far behind?
Maybe, maybe not. Virtually no one moves to Salem for its urban amenities, but more typically because they are attracted by the city’s traditional-feeling, slow-paced vibe. In other words, in terms of attitude at least, Salem is an un-Portland, but it still enjoys both an attractive geographical location with access to abundant recreational opportunities, as well as reasonable proximity to Portland’s urban attractions. As an added benefit, Salem remains the lowest-cost major housing market on the West Coast, and its relative affordability is definitely part of the city’s appeal.