Discovering Cathlamet...treasure chest on the Columbia By Chrissy Hammond |
 |
||
|
OTHER COVER STORIES
Pick up your complete copy of The Columbia River Reader at a local business near you. IT'S FREE! Click here for locations... |
||
 Everyone
I met there was helpful and friendly, including one nice lady who wished to
remain anonymous, but who volunteered to show me the town. She walked down
Main Street with me, describing each historic house and noting if it had been
remodeled or was in the process of being remodeled. Even though she had lived
in Cathlamet only 10 years, this amazing woman had developed an in-depth knowledge
of its history. The Elliott House, near the Pioneer Church, former home of early settler Captain Elliott, is being revamped for Tom Doumit’s law office. Up the street, Dave Gehrman is restoring the old Columbia Saloon, with plans even to eventually bring the second-floor hotel rooms back into service. We walked down to the waterfront, where tug boats were moored and old buildings, built on pilings driven into the river bed, are being refurbished. My companion told me the history of every building on the waterfront and a bit about the original owners. She also knew what the old buildings were going to become, once remodeling is completed. One, named “Scarborough at Cathlamet,” will house retail shops, offices and the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce, which is robust and growing, currently with 104 members. One building of particular interest, called “West’s Hall,” was built partially on pilings and was originally used for social functions and town meetings. With a deck extending out over the water. it now houses a tavern, the River Rat Tap. I couldn’t be sure, but I think I spotted Dr. Munchie slipping out a side door, slightly hunched over and looking over his shoulder. He may have been carrying a doggie bag. We visited former Congresswoman Julia Butler Hansen’s house on Butler Street, and walked around the grounds, admiring the shrubs and winter-blooming flowers. Julia’s son, David, is donating the house, built in the late 1860’s by her grandfather, J.E. Kimball, to the Community Foundation. The house is currently under repair. Many of Julia’s mother’s paintings are included in the home’s collections.  My new friend and I walked to the Farmers Insurance Agency, where we enjoyed
a cup of good hot coffee and delicious sugar cookies, offered to us by the personable
insurance agent, Linda Barth, who is also the president of the Chamber of Commerce.
My friend suggested I next visit the Annual Pie Social underway in the historic
Cathlamet Hotel. The event is a community fundraiser held for friends and neighbors
to get together, enjoy a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, while exchanging news
and sharing memories.Entering the hotel, I found a long table spread with a white linen and filled with delicious-looking, fragrant fruit pies of all kinds. I had a hard time deciding which one to sample, but settled on a whole cherry crumb pie. Later, I was tempted to sit in my car and eat my pie. |
|||
I was really hungry, so I walked back up Main Street to the
Bradley House, a delightful bed and breakfast inn. The inn keeper,
Audie Belcher, greeted me and seated me in the La-Tea-Dah tea room,
where I ordered lunch—a roast turkey deli sandwich on delicious
bread with a mixed green salad—and a pot of tea. It was an “escape
to yester-year!”  The
Bradley House, built in the post-Victorian Eastlake style in 1907, is truly a
beautiful, perfectly- kept, historic house with original fixtures and woodwork.
Audie Belcher explained to me that the floors had to be refinished, because over
the many years of wood heating, they were so discolored they appeared to have
been painted black. She and her husband stripped the floors to find a beautiful parquetry in a Greek Key pattern using many different varieties of inlaid wood. The antique chandeliers hanging in each room and beautiful old fixtures above the fireplaces, intricately designed and crafted with fine workmanship, were intriguing in themselves. My lunch was wonderful! As I sat there in the beauty of the old sitting room, sipping my tea, I had a sense of belonging to the house and the house belonging to me in some strange way. It was a glimpse of a “time gone by.” Maybe in my “past life” I lived here! The adjoining gift shop features a delightful display of china cups, matching saucers and teapots. The Elochoman Slough can be seen from the La-Tea-Dah Tea Room. The marina there offers year-round, overnight, long-term moorage for pleasure and commercial craft. Facilities include moorage, ramp, fuel, showers, telephone and electric power. The marina also offers permanent berths for vessels up to 90 feet and there is space for additional boathouses. After lunch, I ventured to the lovely Redfern Farm Bed and Breakfast, located on Puget Island, nestled in a curve of the Columbia River at 277 Crossdike Road. This steeply-gabled farm house, built in 1940, sits on 20 acres of gardens and pasture. The proprietor is a dear little lady! You’ll enjoy her as much as I did. And my next visit will be to stay in a second story guest room and to enjoy the gardens in bloom. The homemade jams and jellies are added treats! My last stop was the Wahkiakum Historical Museum and, suddenly aware my tour time was nearly up, I realized this place deserved more time. However, a Japanese helmet and some Indian artifacts caught my immediate interest. The museum will be my first stop on my next visit to charming Cathlamet. My heartfelt thanks to my new “tour friend,” and others who were so willing to share their part in the history of Cathlamet. |
 |
||
| MUSEUM The Wahkiakum Historical Society Museum is open 1–4 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Admission is free. The museum is located near the heart of town, on the site of Judge William Strong’s home, built in 1850. Strong settled in Wahkiakum County and was the first district judge in the Oregon Territory. Museum holdings include items related to pioneers, Indians, fishing, Lewis and Clark, logging and farming. Phone: (360)795-3954. |
|||