Longview, WA

Monday, July 10, 2017

This afternoon we take a drive to Longview to see what there is to see.  Longview is a very large port on the Columbia River that was founded in 1923 on the site of the abandoned settlement known as Monticello.  The town was named for the timber entrepreneur R.A. Long who selected the site for a deep water port and forest products business. 

Most of the early buildings were built in the Georgian style including the Public Library (a private gift from Mr. Long) with sculpture of a little girl reading to her cat in front)  

and the old Monticello Hotel now under renovation.

One of the things I most wanted to see here is the Nutty Narrows Bridge.  This funny named bridge is a bridge for squirrels, yes squirrels and was built in 1923 by the late Amos Peters to give squirrels a safe way to cross the busy OlympiaWay road near the Civic Center Circle.  Today it is a local landmark and listed on the city’s historic register.  It is one of five bridges in the city and the focal point for the Squirrel Fest celebration.

You have to look carefully to see the bridge across the trees.

We drive around the historic downtown and find these cute statutes of a little girl giving Mr. Long a thank you flower.  What a sweet sculpture.

There is also this old performing arts center building, theater 

and free standing pedestal clock installed for the benefit of the downtown neighborhood by the Lumberman’s Bank in 1926.  

Many of the buildings in downtown once housed the businesses of J.C. Penney, K.W. Woolworth, and Montgomery Wards as well as other local stores, banks, and  chamber of commerce when there were no malls and all business was located downtown.

In one of the local parks we find this old steam engine which has been rebuilt and a statue of a squirrel in honor of Amos Peters the man who built the first squirrel bridge.  All of the parks here have lovely old trees and are beautifully maintained.  I found the trunks of the trees here interesting.

Further on we drive along Lake Sacajawea 

where there are large old homes (originally built for the city’s professional and managerial leaders) and a few churches.  While most of the houses are 1920’s and later, there were a few that have more than one chimney.  The homes include home styles of English Tutor, Colonial and Spanish Revival.

I love the beautiful blue hydrangeas at this house

This Community Church (found near Lake Sacajawea) built in 1926 has a Gothic Revival castle appearance and sports a gargoyle at each corner of the bell tower.  Though I did not enter the church, I read that the beautiful stained glass windows tell stories from the Bible.   Interesting to see gargoyles which I associate with old castles and churches in Europe.  

Returning to Kelso, we stopped to see the old Train Station with a sculpture inside of a little girl waiting for the train, an old Masonic Lodge building and an old theater.  

Another day of taking in some interesting sites.  Look what you miss if you only travel down the main highway or the freeways.