Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Return to the parking lot the same way or, for something different, take
a right onto the Upper Macleay Trail on your way down; it links back
up with the Wildwood just above the Cornell Rd. crossing.
BACK STORY: PITTOCK MANSION
Though it doesn't look quite like what we typically imagine a pioneer home
to be, Pittock Mansion is, in a way, a pioneer home, if a very decadent and
sophisticated one. It was built for Henry and Georgiana Pittock, who traveled
here from Pennsylvania along the Oregon Trail and lived in the mansion from
1914 to 1919. But this wasn't exactly their “starter” home.
Henry Pittock, born in England, arrived in Portland at age 19 in 1853, com-
pletely broke. At the time Portland had a population of about 1,500 people.
Henry got a job at the then weekly
Oregonian
newspaper and slowly began to
work his way up the paper's chain of command. Seven years later, he bought
the whole enterprise and turned it into a daily. That same year, Henry met and
married Georgiana Martin Burton, who'd arrived from Missouri with her par-
ents a year after he had. When they married, she was only 15 years old. The
couple quickly became socialites and civic leaders, participating in the annual
Rose Festival parade, forming relief organizations for children in need and for
working women, and so on. They had six kids and built up a wide range of
business interests. In 1909 they started planning and designing their house on
the hill. By the time they moved into the mansion, Georgiana was 68 and
Henry was 80. Georgiana died in 1918 and Henry in 1919. The house has
been owned by the city of Portland since 1964 and was opened to the public
the following year.
POINT OF INTEREST (
START TO FINISH
)
Pittock Mansion
pittockmansion.org
,
3229 NW Pittock Dr., 503-823-3623
ROUTE SUMMARY
1.
From NW Thurman St., take NW 29th Ave. to NW Upshur St., and turn left to
reach the Lower Macleay Trailhead.
2.
At the Stone House, continue straight on the Wildwood Trail.
3.
Cross Cornell Rd., staying on the Wildwood Trail.
