More of Edgefield

The next morning we got room service!  This was my first time ever getting room service!  Matt went back to sleep and I took a walk.

The Main Lodge has great photos and paintings of the Poor Farm's history, which is why I like staying at McMenamin's Properties.  Here's a photo of the Poor Farm employees in 1934.

A picture of the pool hall, which is still a pool hall!

There are a lot of tiny bars tucked hither and yon at Edgefield.  I found that interesting.

When the Poor Farm was decommissioned in the early 80s, it wasn't boarded up very well.  So there was a good decade of vandalism and thievery before McMenamins bought the property and renovated it.  I liked this mural because it shows the new (doors to the now-hotel rooms being painted) and the old (graffiti) 

There were several maps of the Poor Farm at different times.  These I wished weren't placed so high on the walls because I really wanted to study them. One of my more-money-than-I-know-what-to-do-with fantasies is buying a large abandoned institution and making into some sort of bucolic Farm/Job training program. If that comes to pass, I'll come back to Edgefield and spend more time studying their maps.

Picture of the deterioration before renovation.

Typical McMenamins detail.

A doorway with a painting of the renovation.

Old picture of the Poor Farm.

See what I'm talking about with the porches?  This is the upstairs east-facing one where it would be a great way to start your day with some tea and a nice book or newspaper.

Just in case you were wondering about the cost of the new root storage house in 1941. Interestingly the labor cost $2937.00 and came from the W.P.A.  Five thousand dollars seems like a lot, but it is a 37 X 70 foot root storage house.  The paint only cost $14.04.

Rebuilding the cupola.

A reminder of the fishing that used to happen at Celilo Falls before the Dalles Damn flooded the site.

Here's a painting of that red door in the garden.  

I loved this picture of residents being given bananas.

Another picture of Celilo Falls.

More porch!

This portrait of a lady freaked me out, she was so realistic.  There's a pay phone there, if you haven't already guessed.

First off, notice the hand dangling above this painting.  Secondly, isn't Verne Jones' tie fabulous?  He was the administrator at the Poor Farm for 33 years and retired when the Poor Farm (which had become a nursing home by that point) closed.

The portrait was taken from this article, which included a black and white picture of Mr. Jones as he prepared to close the poor farm.  He was the last administrator.  Looking between the picture and painting I was surprised to notice that his tie really was that wild in pattern, it just didn't show up as much in a black and white photo.

I love this society lady photo op.

Discovered something marvelous too late for this trip, but will be taken advantage of on the next one.  This hotel, like other McMenamin's properties has no bathrooms in the rooms.  Instead there are a multitude of bathrooms throughout the property.  Some of them have sink/toilet/shower and some just have sink/toilet, so you choose according to your needs.  But at this property I found bathtubs!  There are a couple of bathrooms on the third (possibly second) floor!  There are no stoppers in the tubs, but if you use a rolled up washcloth, it works well enough.  If you like reading in the tub, plan your trip to include a bath!

Wavy carpet down a long hallway.  Yet another attention to detail I love.

This is a hatch-type thing to lead probably to some upper attic-type thing.  But look how they painted it into a cute optical illusion with a cat!

Here's a black rabbit hiding in some greenery.

On the third floor, rooms started being named after musical artists (presumably who have performed at Edgefield which also hosts concerts on the lawn in the summer). Here's Chris Isaac.

And here's a blurry photo of the Etta James room.

In that same hallway, I found an Exit door that surprised me.

It led to an unadorned staircase which went all the way down to the first floor and deposited me right outside my room.

Good working drinking fountain.

One of the bathrooms overlooks a lovely courtyard.

Most of the windows had these interesting features: metal flaps that opened and closed. I think it was for air circulation without opening the whole window.

Gorgeous mural in a women's lounge area.  Aside from lounging, which you can do on one of the couches in the room, there are four bathrooms to choose from.

At one point the Black Crows played Edgefield.  From a historical perspective, concert posters bug me because they rarely say the year.

Portrait of the art team.

Portrait of the renovation crew.

The four McMenamins properties we have not yet stayed. (A list of where we have:  Crystal Hotel, Kennedy School, Olympic Club and now Edgefield)

I bought postcards for my Postcrossers.

Overall, this was a great place to stay.  It would be fun to come here for a multi-day stay. Some porch sitting to begin the day, a hearty hike in the Colombia River Gorge mid-day, then a good dinner, a soak in the soaking pool, and a movie at the Power Station, or perhaps a concert on the lawn.