Quaint historic towns around Washington & Oregon

[myredracer]

Can anyone suggest any attractive quaint historic small towns that would be nice to visit in WA & OR? Thinking of ones that have been kept up and/or gone through a revival of historic commercial areas and have areas with old heritage/historic houses? Port Townsend in WA and Rosedale in OR are ones that come to mind for example. Maybe ones that are on the smaller side and not overun with summer tourists.

We made an unplanned detour off I-5 on the way to Portland last summer and found ourselves in Rosedale. Had a nice stop and lunch and walked around the old downtown. What a lovely historic town with residents and shop owners that have an obvious great pride in it! Super friendly people too.

Thanks!

[ppine]

Molson and Chesaw, Washington. Also Liberty and Republic.

[LFish]

Port Townsend, WA and Fairhaven, a neighborhood in Bellingham, WA.

[Cider]

If you are going to eastern Oregon, and heading to Mitchell - may as well keep going to John Day, then on to Baker City. Once there, head north to LaGrande, Wallowa and Enterprise. Very nice state park in Wallowa.

[ppine]

Good suggestions. I like the towns around the Sound, the San Juan Islands, the Methow Valley, and Route 20 out towards Republic.

In OR, Newport, McMinnville, Sisters, and Bend are fun.

[MarkTwain]

whidby Island Wa. has many small quaint and historical little towns located all around the Island.

[hugemoth]

Far northeast Oregon is Joseph. Lots to see and do there.

[old_guy]

there are many tourist town in wa and Or. and there are many quaint little towns in eastern Oregon.one is Mitchell Oregon. the old hotel is one that was built in the 1800's and still a nice place to stay. it is within a few miles of the painted hills of eastern Oregon

[2gypsies1]

A few of our favorites:

Oregon - Sisters, Baker City, John Day

Washington - Port Townsend

This is why we enjoy traveling the secondary roads.... you see more!

[bikendan]

We like Poulsbo and La Conner.

[myredracer]

Dang, I meant to say Silverton in my original post! Silverton is absolutely a great town. Thx for the CG suggestion.

Silverton is the definitely the kind of old historic town I'm looking for. It's the kind of place where I could easily live if I had the choice.

[downtheroad]

Good suggestions above....also check out Winthrop, WA.
And there are some good campgrounds nearby... and beautiful North Cascades drive and scenic hwy.

[MarkTwain]

myredracer wrote:
Can anyone suggest any attractive quaint historic small towns that would be nice to visit in WA & OR? Thinking of ones that have been kept up and/or gone through a revival of historic commercial areas and have areas with old heritage/historic houses? Port Townsend in WA and Rosedale in OR are ones that come to mind for example. Maybe ones that are on the smaller side and not overun with summer tourists.

We made an unplanned detour off I-5 on the way to Portland last summer and found ourselves in Rosedale. Had a nice stop and lunch and walked around the old downtown. What a lovely historic town with residents and shop owners that have an obvious great pride in it! Super friendly people too.

Thanks!

Off of I-5 near Salem,go east about 20 miles to Silverton. An old historical town. Historical murals painted all around the buildings. There is a beautiful Botanical Garden as well. There is a great RV Park called Silver Spur about 1 mile out of town. Plenty of wineries,

[myredracer]

Have been to Leavenworth. Nice town. I remember it was pretty hot out and there was there was a wildfire nearby and all the locals were on edge and high alert. Have been pondering another visit there. Took forever choosing the right German beer to take home for a friend. That's a good example of a town that underwent a revival and re-invented themselves, which in their case out of a long decline in the forest industry.

Have been along the OR coast many times. Have visited Astoria and Seaside. Last time there they had the world beach volleyball championships - that was interesting! Definitely some interesting small towns up and down the coast. Walked around the old part of Neskowin on the water where all the old summer cabins are which was interesting.

I like it when you're doing a long drive between major cities and you do a stopover in a small town for a break and you find yourself in one of the those lovely quaint historic towns that seems to pop out of nowhere.

[jhlady]

Leavenworth, WA which is set up with a Bavarian theme and is nestled in the North Cascade Mountains. Sisters, OR between Salem, OR and Bend, OR again in the Cascade mountains. Headwaters of the Metoulis River is very interesting as well if you head this direction. Just to name a few.

Enjoy!