Today is My Friday

Today is the first day of October and the unofficial start of spooky season. The greens of summer turn crimson and gold, chill winds blow from lead gray skies, and Halloween decorations are unearthed from dusty attic boxes to hold court on porches and front lawns. There is no better way to kick off the season than with a ghost story, so turn out the lights and gather ‘round. Photo credit: Google, "Streetview", digital images, Google Maps (http://maps.google.com), photograph of 400 W Evergreen Blvd, Vancouver, Washington, taken June 2019. The Gothic Revival building that occupied the northwest corner of Evergreen and Daniels in downtown Vancouver until late 2020 was originally constructed as the First Presbyterian Church in 1912. Over the years, the building was also home to the Columbia Arts Center until 2000, and finally New Heights Church. In each of its incarnations, the building has been the home of a ghostly specter. Many visitors to the building reporte...

The Witness Tree Rooftop Lounge opening in the sparkling new Hotel Indigo on the waterfront will reportedly offer an “elevated” gastronomic experience with artisanal cocktails and a locally-inspired menu. While you are sipping on your Old Fashioned made with pomegranate molasses and Douglas fir infused bourbon and nibbling on your geoduck & chorizo tacos with foraged nettle reduction, you can enjoy views of the majestic Columbia River and take note of the former location of the venerable Witness Tree (may she rest In peace). Although the exact location is not visible from the restaurant, which is in the parking lot of Who Song & Larry’s, I appreciate the nod to an important piece of local history. Photo credit: Vanishing Vancouver (Images of America: Washington) by Pat Jollota According to the City of Vancouver’s Witness Tree Program website , the tree was a black cottonwood located at the south end of Main Street and was known to be an impo...

When I moved to Vancouver several months ago, I noticed the name Harney in several locations. There is the Harney Heights neighborhood and Harney Elementary School located in the central part of town, and Harney Street that runs north from the west side of downtown discontinuously to Northwest Vancouver. The name is a bit unusual, so I was determined to do a little digging to find out the story behind the name. The namesake of these locations is General William Selby Harney, leader of the U.S. Army’s Department of Oregon, which included Washington, from 1858 to 1860. Like myself, he was born in Tennessee; however, the similarities end there. Harney earned a reputation for hotheadedness and brutality in the Army during the Indian Wars and the Mexican-American War. Among his acts of savagery are the beating death of a slave woman in 1834 and massacre of a settlement of Lakota Sioux in the Battle of Ash Hollow in 1855. His career in the Department of Oregon was a bit calmer, ...