8 Prettiest Main Streetscapes In The Pacific Northwest

In the Pacific Northwest, the saltwater, volcanoes, and old-growth forest do not stay in the wild; that beauty carries over into a select few main streets. The prettiest run through four towns in Washington and four in Oregon, each one framed by the water, peaks, or forest at the end of the street.

Port Townsend

Builders raised Port Townsend's downtown during a boom in the 1880s, and Water Street still has the brick and cut stone to show for it. The entire downtown core is a National Historic Landmark District, designated in 1977, and one of only three surviving Victorian-era seaports in the country. Water Street runs along the shoreline and ends at Point Hudson, where Northwest Maritime keeps a public campus on the beach and wooden boats sit in the yard. Halfway down the street stands Haller Fountain and its bronze Galatea, a 1993 copy of the 1903 original. Stairs climb from there to the Uptown neighborhood. Elevated Ice Cream has been on Water Street since 1977. The Rose Theatre, which dates to about 1907, still shows films a block up on Taylor.

Langley

The ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville takes about 35 minutes, and from there it is a short drive south onto Whidbey Island. Langley's First Street sits on top of a low bluff, so the shops on the water side look straight out at Saratoga Passage, Camano Island, and the Cascades. At Boy and Dog Park, a bronze boy and his dog by Georgia Gerber have leaned on the railing since 1986. Stone stairs drop from there to Seawall Park, which has 1,140 feet of beach at the base of the bluff. Gray whales come into the shallows in spring to hunt for ghost shrimp, close enough to watch from a bench. A block over on Anthes Avenue, Whale Bell Park has a brass bell that anyone can ring after a sighting. The Langley Whale Center is another stop for those curious about the area's wildlife. Nearby, glassblowers work at Callahan's Firehouse on Second Street every day.

La Conner

North from Whidbey, across the Deception Pass Bridge, the road reaches Skagit Valley farmland. La Conner runs along the Swinomish Channel with a boardwalk beside it, and seals, herons, and bald eagles pass at close range. Flower baskets hang along First Street from mid-May to Labor Day. Nearby, the Rainbow Bridge crosses to Fidalgo Island, a steel arch finished in 1957 and a distinctive local landmark of its type in Washington. People here call it the Golden Gate of La Conner. Two blocks off the water, the 1891 Gaches Mansion holds the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum. The Museum of Northwest Art, a couple of blocks away, is free to visit.

Leavenworth

US 2 runs east over Stevens Pass and follows the Wenatchee River down into Leavenworth. Business owners rebuilt the downtown around a Bavarian theme in the 1960s, adding steep rooflines, painted trim, balconies, and murals across the whole street at once. Icicle Ridge rises directly behind the rooflines, and the trailhead starts near the town's last shop. Front Street Park has alpine gardens, a maibaum, and a gazebo where live music plays most days in season. A short walk away, Waterfront Park covers 17 acres with more than 3,040 feet of river frontage and footbridges out to Blackbird Island. The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum sits right on Front Street. Come fall, those who imbibe can join the festivities at Leavenworth's own Oktoberfest.

Astoria

The Wenatchee flows into the Columbia, and the Columbia meets the ocean at Astoria, Oregon. The town climbs 38 blocks up a hillside and dates to 1811, the oldest permanent American settlement west of the Rockies. Commercial Street covers the length of the downtown historic district, and every cross street drops toward the water, so ship traffic almost always stays in view. The Liberty Theatre opened in 1925, an Italian Renaissance house designed by John Bennes and Harry Herzog, and it still holds concerts and plays. Below the shops, the Astoria Riverwalk runs 6.4 miles on pavement and old rail trestles. Above them, the Astoria Column stands on Coxcomb Hill, 600 feet over the river: 125 feet tall, 164 steps to the top, dedicated in 1926, and wrapped in a 525-foot sgraffito mural by Attilio Pusterla. Captain George Flavel's 1885 Queen Anne house stands two blocks up from Commercial on Exchange Street, with an octagonal tower built so he could watch the same ship traffic.

Cottage Grove

Interstate 5 runs south through the Willamette Valley to Cottage Grove, a town whose Main Street ends with a covered bridge. The Centennial Covered Bridge stands at Main and River Road, an 84-foot walking bridge over the Coast Fork Willamette that volunteers built in 1987 out of timber from two older bridges. Cottage Grove calls itself the Covered Bridge Capital of the West and has the record to back it up: the 1925 Chambers Railroad Bridge, restored in 2011, is the only fully covered railroad bridge left in Oregon. In between, ten murals cover the walls of a downtown listed on the National Register in 1992. One shows Buster Keaton at Ninth and Main, painted on the old hotel where he stayed while filming The General here in 1926. The Row River Trail leaves town on an old rail grade and runs 14 paved miles to Dorena Reservoir.

Sisters

East of the Cascades, the road drops into ponderosa pine and reaches Sisters, where the entire downtown follows an 1880s Western design theme. Board sidewalks, false fronts, and painted signs run the whole length of Cascade Avenue and Hood Avenue. The Three Sisters, volcanic peaks close to 10,000 feet, stand above the roofline to the southwest. Village Green Park has a lawn and shade a block off the main drag on Fir Street. On the second Saturday of July, the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show hangs more than 1,000 quilts on the outside walls of the shops, closes Hood Avenue to cars, and charges nothing. The Stitchin' Post runs the show's week of classes and sells fabric and yarn all year. For those needing a pick-me-up, Sisters Coffee Company burns a wood fire inside its log building on Hood Avenue.

Joseph

Oregon 82 runs northeast into the Wallowa Valley and ends in Joseph. Life-size bronze statues line both sides of Main Street: cowboys, animals, and a monument to Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce ringed with his own words. Austin Barton's Attitude Adjustment is one of the best known. Chief Joseph Mountain fills the view south past the last building in town. Valley Bronze of Oregon has cast much of this work since 1982 and runs foundry tours from its works just off Main. At the north end of the street, the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture holds galleries and a Western history library. Arrowhead Chocolates makes its truffles farther down Main, toward the mountain.

The View at the End of the Street

A memorable main street is more than good buildings. In these eight towns, the view splits between natural beauty and local history: the water at Point Hudson, the Rainbow Bridge over the Swinomish Channel, Icicle Ridge behind the rooflines, the Columbia below Commercial Street, a covered bridge at the end of Main, the Three Sisters above the false fronts, and Chief Joseph Mountain past the last storefront. Four in Washington, four in Oregon, and every one of them worth the visit.