Vernonia is a former sawmill town nestled against the east side of Oregon’s Coast Range. The place is economically devastated, and the rent was cheap. After coming out of the woods at the end of my three month adventure in the Oregon Cascades, I spent about a month parked in the driveway of my friend
(click on his name to go to his Substack) before finding the spot in Vernonia.Vernonia was a town of loggers and mill workers. They were my kind of people. It was about a half hour’s drive to my job in The City - and a million miles away culturally. I was always glad to come home at night. Here is what home looked like:
I was right next to the Nehalem River, which is right behind the camera. Now, my motorhome is built on a Ford E450 chassis — which Ford calls a “van.” Indeed, the “E” stands for Econoline. So… I was literally living in a van down by the river!
Being so close to the river meant that there was a flood danger — and the place did flood, severely, shortly after I moved out. I understand that the water got about four feet deep at this spot in the picture.
It wasn’t Paradise but was close enough. And Pookie was happy, too.
The autumn rains came, and I went hunting for my favorite mushrooms. I found plenty on a ridge just outside of town!
There are Chanterelles elseswhere, but for some reason the ones that grow in the Pacific Northwest are the tastiest. They fruit after the first rains of autumn. So I hadn’t had any of these since leaving Oregon many years earlier. They are a highly prized delectable, reportedly fetching fifty dollars a pound (in mid-1990s dollars) by the time they get to the restaurant tables of France.
Oh, yes, I was happy. Yum, yum.
The rain that brings the mushrooms also brings gloom. Here’s a blue heron and a duck huddling against the cold and damp at the former mill pond in Vernonia:
This might be the best shot I got during my entire time there.
After my job let me go, I saw no reason to stay in that depressing wet and cold. After stopping by Dave & Kathie’s for Thanksgiving dinner, I spent a week or two visiting a cousin in the Columbia gorge, and then headed east. I wanted to try living east of the mountains.
If dreariness was a postcard, it would certainly be Vernonia. Funny thing though, when driving anywhere along the roads to and from the coast, there are an abundance of Department of Transportation signs pointing motorists towards that poor beleaguered town, as if to say, "Come visit this vital tourist stop!"
Once upon a time, it was a major part of Oregon's logging industry, but if you know the evil that killed it, you know a lot about what's going on.
I absolutely LOVE Veronica Oregon. About 8 years ago my family was rolling around in a dumpy old RV looking for work for my kid's father and we stayed for a bit in Vernonia at the city owned RV park. Last time we were there, they were closing it down and all the people who lived there were being forced to relocate, which was really sad, but it was such a nice and friendly little town.