Philip Foster Farm
Clackamas County, Clackamas County, Oregon
Marker Inscription
The Philip Foster Farm has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior
Erected by U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Story
The Philip Foster Farm sits at the western end of the Barlow Road, the overland shortcut around Mount Hood that let Oregon Trail emigrants avoid the perilous raft trip down the Columbia River. In the 1840s and 1850s, exhausted pioneers who had crossed two thousand miles rolled into Foster's farm as their first real resupply and rest stop in the Willamette Valley, buying food, fresh horses, and a night's shelter before pushing on to Oregon City. The farm became one of the most welcome sights on the entire trail — the place where the hardest journey in America finally eased.
Why it matters
As the last major waystation on the Oregon Trail, the Foster Farm marks the literal end of the overland pioneer experience and the threshold of settlement in the Pacific Northwest. Its listing on the National Register recognizes a rare surviving anchor of the westward migration that reshaped the American map.
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Related people
- · Philip Foster
Related events
- · Oregon Trail migration
- · Barlow Road
Themes & tags
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