Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in The Dalles (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, Old St. Peter's Landmark, and Fort Dalles Museum. Also, be sure to include Columbia Hills State Park in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in The Dalles (Oregon).
Table of Contents
Columbia Gorge Discovery Center
The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum is the official interpretive center and history museum about the Columbia River Gorge located on 54 acres in The Dalles, Oregon. Opened in 1997, the 48,200-square-foot Center features exhibits about the area's geology, Ice Age prehistory, Native American culture and basketry, exploration by Lewis and Clark and others on the Oregon Trail, settlement, transportation and natural history. The Wasco County Historical Museum is a 17,200 square-foot exhibit wing which tells the history of the people of Wasco County, Oregon.
The center also offers live raptor programs, a research library, meeting rooms, auditorium, gift shop and cafe. The site includes a handicap accessible paved interpretive trail with vistas of the Columbia River Gorge and the Klickitat Hills.[1]
Address: 5000 Discovery Dr, 97058 The Dalles
Old St. Peter's Landmark
Museum in the Dalles, Oregon. Old Saint Peter's Landmark, commonly referred to simply as Old St. Peter's, is a historic building located at the corner of 3rd and Lincoln Streets in downtown The Dalles, Oregon. It was built in 1897 and dedicated on March 17, 1898 as St. Peter's Church, and served the local Roman Catholic congregation as its place of worship until 1968. It was saved from scheduled demolition in 1971 by a group of concerned citizens who formed Old St. Peter's Landmark, Inc. for that specific purpose, and which maintains the building as a museum and site for weddings, concerts and other cultural events.[2]
Address: 405 Lincoln St, 97058-1809 The Dalles
Fort Dalles Museum
Museum in the Dalles, Oregon. The Lewis Anderson House, Barn and Granary is a historic ensemble of buildings, currently located in The Dalles, Oregon, United States. This well-preserved set of 1890s Swedish American vernacular architecture was originally located on a farm on Pleasant Ridge, south of The Dalles. Lewis Anderson was a Swedish immigrant who, after establishing himself on Pleasant Ridge, worked semi-successfully to encourage further Swedish settlement in the area of The Dalles. The sidehill barn, with grade entrances on two levels, was the first erected of the ensemble, in 1890. The house was built by Anderson and fellow Swedish immigrant Ab Pearson in 1895. Anderson purchased and relocated the granary from a neighboring farm in 1898, in the process repurposing it from its previous function as a house.
The buildings were relocated to The Dalles in 1972 in order to restore and protect them, and were made part of the Fort Dalles Museum at that time. They were entered onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[3]
Address: 500 W 15th Street, 97058-1527 The Dalles
Columbia Hills State Park
State park in Klickitat County, Washington. Columbia Hills State Park is a Washington state park located 6 miles east of Dallesport on SR 14 in Klickitat County. The park occupies 3,338 acres on Horsethief Lake, an impoundment of the Columbia River, and was created in 2003 with the merger of Horsethief Lake State Park and Dalles Mountain Ranch.[4]
The Dalles Bridge
Truss bridge in Wasco County, Oregon. The Dalles Bridge is a bridge on U.S. Route 197 that spans the Columbia River in the United States between The Dalles, Oregon and Dallesport, Washington.[5]
Granada Theater
Theater in the Dalles, Oregon. The Granada Theater, located on 2nd and Washington streets in The Dalles, Oregon, United States, was built in 1929. The exterior of theater is in the Moorish Revival style.
This theater is said to have been the first theater west of the Mississippi to show a "talkie".
A plaque bearing the seal of the State of Oregon on the side of the building reads, "Granada Theater: This Moorish-style motion picture theater was completed in 1930 for its first proprietor, M.R. Matthew, at a cost of $125,000. The plans were prepared by William Cutts of Portland, who designed approximately sixty theaters for the Universal Film Corporation. Planned at the height of the silent screen era, the theater nonetheless was equipped with Vitaphone and Movietone sound systems. The facade of the concrete building was detailed to imitate Moorish Architecture. Its stucco finish was accented with brick and tile, and its domed towers, arcaded parapet, and horseshoe-arched windows framed by twisted spiral columns were designed to create the exotic atmosphere of the Mediterranean."
The City of The Dalles purchased the theater in September 2010. The building is in The Dalles Commercial Historic District.[6]
Original Wasco County Courthouse
Courthouse in the Dalles, Oregon. The Original Wasco County Courthouse is a historic former courthouse, located in The Dalles, Oregon, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name First Wasco County Courthouse, and is also listed as a contributing resource in the National Register-listed Trevitt's Addition Historic District.
One of only two remaining courthouses from prior to Oregon statehood, this building served Wasco County from 1859 until 1882, and then as The Dalles city hall until 1907. From its original location in downtown The Dalles, it has been moved several times before its current location within Trevitt's Addition Historic District.
As of 2010, it was managed as a museum by the Wasco County Historical Society.[7]
Address: 410 W 2nd Pl, The Dalles
Rorick House Museum
Museum in the Dalles, Oregon. The Rorick House Museum, also known as the Malcolm A. Moody House, is a museum located in The Dalles, Oregon, United States. The building was originally built in 1850 as a two-room residence for non-commissioned officers from Fort Dalles, this is the oldest remaining house in The Dalles. It was subsequently occupied by U.S. Representative Malcolm A. Moody, and has ultimately become a museum. The house is the current headquarters for the Wasco County Historical Society.[8]
Address: 300 W 13th St, 97058 The Dalles
The Dalles Civic Auditorium
Building. The Dalles Civic Auditorium is a historic building on the National Register of Historic Places located at the corner of Fourth and Federal streets in The Dalles, Oregon. It is currently owned by the Civic Auditorium Historic Preservation Committee, a non-profit corporation formed specifically for the purpose of purchasing it from the City of The Dalles to save it from scheduled demolition, restore it, and operate it as a local and regional cultural center.
"The Civic," as it is most commonly called, was once an important center of cultural and recreational activity for its community and region, and after more than a decade of dereliction and disuse, has been partially restored with plans in place for complete rehabilitation. The facility is becoming, once again, the site of public and private events.[9]
Address: 323 E 4th St, 97058 The Dalles
Celilo Falls
Waterfall in Oregon. Celilo Falls was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. The name refers to a series of cascades and waterfalls on the river, as well as to the native settlements and trading villages that existed there in various configurations for 15,000 years. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent until 1957, when the falls and nearby settlements were submerged by the construction of The Dalles Dam.[10]
Rock Fort Campsite
The Rock Fort Campsite is a natural fortification on the south shore of the Columbia River in The Dalles, Oregon, United States. The Lewis and Clark Expedition camped at this defensible spot for three nights in late October 1805, just after it passed Celilo Falls on its descent to the Pacific Ocean, and again for one night on their return journey. It was here that the expedition first made significant contact and commerce with the Chinookan-speaking peoples of the lower Columbia.[11]