Saturday, May 9, 2009

Sacred Destinations in Oregon

Despite its relatively short history, my home state of Oregon does have some notable and historic sacred places. Below are two that my husband and I visited recently.

Old Scotch Church

Old Scotch Church

The Old Scotch Church in Hillsboro (west of Portland) was built in 1878 by 12 settlers from Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Its style is called Carpenter Gothic, which is a modest, North American form of Gothic Revival architecture using wood. It's very beautiful and has a lovely setting among fir trees in the countryside. My husband and I were married in this church in 2004.

Old Scotch Church

More photos and a history of the church here.

Crater Lake

When it comes to Native American sacred sites, the most famous in Oregon is Crater Lake. Still used for vision quests by the Klamath tribe, this sacred lake was formed around 4680 BC by a volcanic eruption.

crater lake

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It is filled entirely by melted snow, giving it the dazzling blue color for which it is famous. Shown above is a view from the south rim.

I'm ashamed to say this was my first visit despite having lived in Oregon all my life! We stopped by on our way home from San Francisco in late April, when there was still plenty of snow on the ground. (The road around the crater doesn't open until July!) It was midday and the sky was hazy so our pictures aren't as good as we'd hoped, but it was still a spectacular sight. We will certainly return another day for more photos!

More about Crater Lake and its sacred significance here.

And the Beach

Oregon Coast
And finally, it is not a sacred destination (as far as I know), but here is a view of the Oregon coast taken during our visit to Lincoln City yesterday.

1 comment:

gillian said...

It's really sad that someone is not aware of the beauty of her surrounding. Even I, I once live in Oregon but unfortunately I wasn't able to check out those beautiful places. I envy you because you were able to visit and were able to get some pictures of the place and show the world how magnificent Oregon is.
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