Ten blocks of downtown Silverton have been designated a national historic district, looking much the same as the city did in the 19th century. This is the small town America Norman Rockwell used to paint, and the the illustrator’s work appears larger than life as a mural on Main Street. It’s the kind of town you want to come home to, as Bobbie the Wonder Dog did in the 1920s, making national headlines by walking 2,500 miles to return to his family after being lost in Indiana.
Planning a visit? Stay at Silver Spur RV Resort.
The city in the Willamette Valley, northeast of Salem, is highlighted by Silver Creek, which bisects the town and provides all manner of recreation in the foothills of the Cascade Range. Silverton is the gateway to Silver Falls State Park, the largest state park in Oregon.
The 80-acre Oregon Garden is only 25 years old but already boasts a national reputation with stars like the 400-year old Signature Oak and the Gordon House, the only Frank Lloyd Wright house open to the public the Pacific Northwest. Silverton’s biggest festival, Davenport Days, celebrates the life of political cartoonist Homer Davenport who also brought the first Arabian horses to America.
