This is just a little bit of history and trivia that popped into my head tonight, about McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon (just outside of Portland). The Edgefield is a 38-acre estate that features lodging, restaurants, a brewery, a vineyard and winery, a distillery, and more, dominated by a Georgian-revival style manor. It’s a fantastic, fun place, as all of the big McMenamins renovations are.
Built in 1911, it was originally the Multnomah County Poor Farm:
Residents operated a self-sufficient environment, raising hogs, poultry, growing a variety of fruits and vegetables, operating a dairy, cannery and meat packing plant as well as working in the laundry, kitchen and hospital.
At that time, not long after the turn of the last century, my great-grandfather was a mortician in Portland, and on occasion he would have to make a trip out to the Poor Farm to pick up the bodies of residents who died.
Yeah, an odd bit of trivia. It’s been an odd week.
So it was an economic biodome of sorts? 🙂 I suppose they don’t carry on in that tradition now? It sounds like an interesting experiment.
Nah, McMenamins does their own thing there–though you *could* say it’s similar, since you can get lodging, eat, drink, find entertainment, etc. etc. all on the estate.
Now of course I’m more curious about the history of the Poor Farm. Perhaps a trip to the Edgefield for research is in order 🙂
http://www.poorhousestory.com/poorhouses_in_oregon.htm