As easy as it is to forget nature when in
the city, we can also slip into thinking of Portland as small and quaint, and
forget that sometimes it does monumental, as well.
Both of these things are cured by a visit
to Cathedral Park, which seems to be unknown to most Portlanders, even though
they drive right over it all the time.
It’s under the St. Johns Bridge, which is
about as large-scale and classy as Portland can get. Did you know that when the
bridge opened in 1931, it had the highest clearance in the nation? That it was
the longest suspension bridge west of Detroit? Today it sees more than 20,000
cars daily, but nowhere near that many ever visit the spacious, quiet park
underneath it.
To go down there is truly appreciate the
grandeur of the bridge, with its 400-foot gothic towers and the cathedral-like
arches that gave the park its name. Visiting here will also give you another
sense of Portland, sometimes lost: that it’s a river town. There’s a boat ramp
here, as well as ducks and geese and picnickers, and the occasional sea-going
vessel cruising by.
It’s thought that Lewis and Clark camped
here, and we know that the original founder of St. Johns homesteaded here in
1847. In the 1970s, the area was an informal junkyard, so Howard Galbraith, the
"honorary mayor" of unincorporated St Johns, led a drive to make it a
park.
The Highway 30 traffic is far enough
above you that the sounds won’t disturb you. Downtown is far enough downstream
that you’ll feel out in the country. And the bridge is big and beautiful enough
that you’ll remember that sometimes Portland do things on a mighty impressive
scale.
essentials
N Edison St & Pittsburg Ave
Free
5 a.m. to Midnight
TriMet #17 to N Syracuse and Philadelphia
or #4 or #75 to N Lombard and Baltimore.
