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Few things are more appealing than a person with a passion. You’ll find one in David Benko, who’s been obsessed with neon since the age of 8. He’s turned that interest into the surprisingly fascinating National Neon Sign Museum, located in the heart of The Dalles’ historic downtown district. Benko makes an enthusiastic case that neon was instrumental in expanding American city nightlife and shares his vast collection of neon advertising signage and artifacts, including many you can’t see anywhere else in the world.
Benko is also the new steward of the Jantzen Beach Carousel, which he’s planning to restore, refurbish, and put back into use as soon as he can raise the funds. He’s targeting 2028, the carousel’s 100th birthday, and if anyone can do it he can. In 2022, he oversaw a massive expansion of The Dalles’ downtown mural collection, organizing 350 “Wall Dogs” who came from around the world to paint 18 murals in four days.
In an uncommonly lovely setting for a museum, exhibits at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum tell the story of the Missoula Flood, the cataclysm that carved the Gorge, the oversized animals that once roamed, and the peoples who lived here long before the Corps of Discovery wandered in. One side looks like a Western movie set with storefronts filled with artifacts from the time when Wasco County was one of the largest in the United States—comprising more than half of what’s now Oregon.
And they say the government can’t get anything done. Last August, the state of Washington approved the name change of the 29-year-old Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center Museum to the Columbia Gorge Museum. The simpler moniker fits the modern glass-and-concrete building that stands on a parcel of land just outside the Skamania Lodge Resort.
With permission from the Yakama Nation, one exhibit tells the story of the petroglyph known as Tsagaglalal, or She Who Watches, considered one of the finest examples of original art painted by the Chinookan People.
Among the more unexpected exhibits are hundreds of rosaries and a display of the ornate furniture and housewares of Baron Eugene Fersen, the son of a Russian grand duchess who in the 20th century fell in love with the area and formed the intriguing Lightbearers in the Gorge.
From the Bonneville to the Grand Coulee, dams have utterly transformed the river. Today, there’s important debate and reckoning over the impact of these monumental projects. You can gain an informed opinion by visiting Bonneville, the first dam built on the Columbia, completed in 1943 as a Public Works Administration project of the New Deal.
The Bradford Island Visitor Center in Oregon shows how nature, technology, and humans intersect. The views of the fish ladder can be thrilling when you spot a salmon leap. A visitor center on the Washington side focuses on understanding electricity and how hydroelectric dams works. A third visitor center at the Navigation Locks is open Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, from 1 to 4 pm.
At the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, visitors can feed rainbow trout (warnings insist that they will bite if teased!) and view the eerily large, elderly white sturgeon, denizens of the river that evolved over 200 million years ago.
If the wait for Sugarpine Drive-In seems like its stretching into centuries, consider stopping at the Troutdale Historical Society Museums. The Fred E. Harlow House is a preserved turn-of-the-20th-century farmhouse. Fred was a son of Captain John Harlow, the founder of Troutdale. Next door is The Barn and its exhibit King of Roads, created for the 100th birthday of the Historic Columbia River Highway in 2016. The construction of the first scenic highway in the U.S. demanded engineering innovation and a lively cast of characters. Finally, the Depot Museum honors an amazing episode in Oregon history. In 1882, the railroad was slated to come through this area. Captain Harlow tried to persuade the railroad barons to put in a depot at Troutdale. They refused. So he took an unusual, some might say dastardly, approach to make it happen.
For more transportation marvels, head to Washington’s Long Beach peninsula. It wasn’t until 1966 that the Astoria-Megler Bridge enabled auto transit over the mouth of the Columbia (at 4.1 miles, it’s the longest continuous truss bridge in North America). For hundreds of years before that, the peninsula was a popular destination for its abundant bounty, oyster farms, and wide sandy beaches. Nestled in the crook where the river meets the sea, Ilwaco remains an active fishing port with many attractions for visitors. The Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum is one of them. Learn about traditional Chinookan culture; the advent of European settlers who found success with logging, fishing, and oystering; and the water’s treachery via touchable relics from Klipsan Beach Lifesaving Service Station.
The largest of the museum’s 23,000 artifacts is the Nahcotta, a narrow gauge passenger coach, built in 1889 as part of the “Clamshell Railroad.” It’s open for tours once a year during Clamshell Railroad Days (this year’s celebration is July 20 and 21).
National Neon Sign Museum
200 East 3rd St., The Dalles, Ore., 541- 370-2242, nationalneonsignmuseum.org. 10 am–5 pm Monday, Tuesday and Thursday–Saturday. Adults $10, seniors $8, students and kids over 5 $5, 5 and under free.
Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum
5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, Ore., 541-296-8600, gorgediscovery.org. 9 am–5 pm daily. Adults $12, seniors $10, youths 6-17 $7, 5 and under free.
Columbia Gorge Museum
990 SW Rock Creek Drive, Stevenson, Wash., 509-427-8211, columbiagorgemuseum.org. 10 am–5 pm daily. Adults $10, seniors and students $8, youths 6-12 $6, 5 and under free.
Bonneville Lock, Dam, and Fish Hatchery
70543 NE Herman Loop, Cascade Locks, Ore., 541-374-8393, nps.gov. Hatchery: 7:30 am–dusk daily. Visitor centers: 9 am–5 pm daily. Free.
Troutdale Historical Society Museums
Harlow House and Barn, 726 E Historic Columbia River Highway, 503-661-2164, troutdalehistory.org. Harlow House: Free. Barn: Ages 12 and up $5, Multnomah County residents free. Depot Museum, 473 E Historic Columbia River Highway, 503-661-2164. 9 am–3 pm Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 am–5 pm all other days. Free.
Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum
115 SE Lake St., Ilwaco, Wash., 360-642-3446, columbiapacificheritagemuseum.org. 10 am–4 pm Wednesday–Saturday. Free.
This story is part of Oregon Summer Magazine, Willamette Week’s annual guide to the summer months, this year focused along the Columbia River. It is free and can be found all over Portland beginning Monday, July 1st, 2024. Find a copy at one of the locations noted on this map before they all get picked up! Read more from Oregon Summer magazine online here.
