Spring Valley (Oregon)

The Spring Valley Presbyterian Church, also known as the Zena Church, in the community of Zena, is a Presbyterian congregation approximately 10 miles northwest of Salem, Oregon, United States. According to a commemorative plaque in front of the church, it was built in 1859 with volunteer labor. The lumber came by boat on the Willamette River to the community of Lincoln, while the bell came from England via Cape Horn. Directly adjacent to the church is a small cemetery of approximately 100 headstones. Sunday church services and private weddings are still held at Spring Valley. Local families continue to bury their dead in the cemetery. The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Zena, Oregon is a former community (now considered a ghost town) approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Salem, Oregon, United States, in Polk County. The community was established in 1858, originally called "Spring Valley". It was renamed "Zena" by Daniel Jackson Cooper and his brother Jacob Calvin Cooper, pioneers from Missouri. In 1866, they built a store and located the post office there, renaming the community in tribute to their wives (and sisters), Arvazena Spilman Cooper and Melzena Spilman Cooper. Zena is home to the historic Spring Valley Presbyterian Church. The 1992 novel, The Road to Zena by Joel Redon, is set in Zena and nearby Lincoln.

John Phillips House is a historic 1853 vernacular Greek Revival house in the Spring Valley area of Polk County, Oregon, United States. It was built for pioneer John Phillips, who came to Oregon via the Oregon Trail in 1845. He finished his journey to Oregon on the Meek Cutoff as part of Stephen Meek's "lost wagon train".John Phillips, born in 1814, was a native of Wiltshire England who came to the U.S. in 1834 and settled in Florida. After living in New Orleans—where he met and married Elizabeth Hibbard in 1839—and St. Louis, he came to Oregon and bought the Turner donation land claim in Polk County for $100. The locale was once known as Spring Valley Ranch. John Phillips hired carpenter Samuel Coad to build a house for him there. Samuel Coad served during the Cayuse War in 1855, and helped construct buildings at Fort Hoskins, including one commissioned by then-Lieutenant Philip Sheridan, which was moved near the community of Pedee. Also known as the Condron House, the Philip Sheridan House has been returned to the Fort Hoskins site and is being restored. Samuel Coad married the daughter of General Cornelius Gilliam, Henrietta, in 1853. Coad also constructed the woolen mill at Ellendale.As of 1980, the John Phillips House was the oldest residence in Polk County and was still in the Phillips family. The 1+1⁄2-story house has horizontal wood siding.The house has a Salem mailing address, but the closest settlement is the unincorporated community of Zena about a mile to the southwest. John Phillips is buried in the Zena Cemetery at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church.

Cristom Vineyards is an Oregon wine producer and vineyard based near Salem, U.S. It is in the Eola-Amity Hills wine region within the Willamette Valley AVA, about 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of Keizer.

Bethel Heights Vineyard is an Oregon winery in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley. Founded in 1977 by twin brothers Ted and Terry Casteel, their wives Pat Dudley and Marilyn Webb, and Pat's sister Barbara Dudley, the vineyard was one of the earliest plantings in the Eola-Amity Hills region. A winery soon followed, with the first estate wines produced in 1984. Bethel Heights specializes in Pinot noir, offering several individual block and vineyard designated bottlings, but also produces wines made from Chardonnay, Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, and Gewürztraminer.Today, the winery is still owned by members of the Casteel-Dudley-Webb families. The winery has earned a reputation in the region as a pioneer in "sensible and sustainable" viticulture, with Ted Casteel being one of the co-founders of the Low Input Viticulture and Enology (LIVE) certification program in the state of Oregon. In 1997, Bethel Heights was one of the first vineyards in Oregon to be certified Salmon-Safe, and it is a member of the Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine (OCSW). In 2007, it was among the first Oregon wineries to join the Oregon Global Warming Commission and pledged to go carbon neutral by 2010.

The Eola-Amity Hills AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Polk County and Yamhill County, Oregon. It is entirely contained within the Willamette Valley AVA, and stretches from the city of Amity in the north to Salem in the south. The Eola and Amity hills cover an area west of the Willamette River approximately 15 miles (24 km) long by 6 miles (10 km) wide. The Eola-Amity Hills area benefits from steady winds off the Pacific Ocean that reach the Willamette Valley through the Van Duzer Corridor, a gap in the Oregon Coast Range, moderating the summer temperatures. The Eola Hills were named after the community of Eola, whose name was derived from Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds.

The Edward W. St. Pierre House is a historic house in the West Salem neighborhood of Salem, Oregon, United States. It is also known as Elkirk Ranch and was built in 1911. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It was deemed significant:as that place which is most importantly associated with the leader of early prison reform in Oregon. Although E. W. St. Pierre had retired at the time the ranch was developed, he carried on his connection with the State Penitentiary which he had done so much to improve, by acting in the capacity of visiting chaplain. Edward Walter St. Pierre (1859-1917) and his wife both were natives of Illinois and were educated there. Their arrival in Portland in 1894 was preceded by extensive missionary service in Persia on behalf of the Presbyterian Church. While a clergyman at Portland's St. John's Presbyterian Church, St. Pierre helped form the Prisoner's Aid Society in 1903 to assist released convicts. His commitment to social reforms attracted the notice of the government, and he was tapped to serve inmates of the Oregon State Penitentiary as the first permanent chaplain. During the tenure of Governor Earle Chamberlain, 1903-1909, he urged enactment of a parole system as an incentive to rehabilitation, and became Oregon's first State parole officer in 1906. St. Pierre believed, in keeping with the progressive ideology of his day, that inmates should be segregated based on the degree of their offenses as a means of preventing the "hardening" of youthful offenders. He advocated rehabilitation of inmates through education and job training. He improved the prison library, started an orchestra there, and founded a prison newspaper. A chapel was constructed inside the prison compound in 1911, before ill health forced St. Pierre's retirement later in the same year. It no longer stands, having been replaced in the 1960s. Neither are either of the houses the St. Pierres occupied near downtown Salem during Governor Chamberlain's term of office extant. Thus "Elkirk Ranch" clearly is the remaining property most importantly associated with the reformer during the years he lived and ministered in the capital city and environs. The two-story house has wood siding.It is 35 by 50 feet (11 m × 15 m) in plan. Its interior has fir floors throughout and includes "fine Craftsman details with square, boxed pillars at the central stair landing, and built-in cupboards in the living room, dining room and study."

Eola is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It lies four miles west of Salem on Oregon Route 22 at the confluence of Rickreall Creek and the Willamette River. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Eola as a census-designated place (CDP). The census definition of the area may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with the same name. The population of the CDP was 60 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Eola Hills rise north of the community and were named after it.

Holman State Wayside is a state park in Polk County, Oregon, United States, on Oregon Route 22 at the foot of the Eola Hills near the community of Eola. The wayside is administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department but was closed to vehicular traffic in 2007 because of ongoing problems with criminal activity.The site was purchased by the State of Oregon in 1922. The land was originally owned by Thomas and Cora Holman, who had long allowed the public to water their stock and drink at a natural spring on the property, a purpose it had served since pioneer times. The 10-acre (4 ha) park is on a hillside forested with Douglas-firs, Oregon white oaks and bigleaf maples, and has picnic tables and a walking trail.Bicycle and pedestrian traffic is still permitted in the park, although the restrooms have been demolished since 2013. In 2007, the Parks and Recreation Department said the closure of the wayside was temporary while solutions to the park's problems were discussed, and held a public hearing regarding the future of the wayside.

Rickreall Creek is a stream in Polk County, Oregon, United States rising on Laurel Mountain in the Central Oregon Coast Range and draining into the Willamette River west of Salem at Eola. The creek passes through the city of Dallas and the unincorporated community of Rickreall. The origin of the name is under some dispute, but one theory says that "Rickreall" is a corruption of "La Creole", La Creole River being another name for the stream.

Brunks Corner is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States, at the junction of Oregon Route 22 and Oak Grove Road, near the terminus of Oregon Route 51.The 1861 Harrison Brunk House at Brunks Corner was built by an early Oregon pioneer and is now a historic house museum run by the Polk County Historical Society. The site was designated a Century Farm in 1959. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Bethel is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It sits at the base of the Eola Hills in Plum Valley. Bethel is considered a ghost town as the only remaining structure is a school, now serving as a church. The locale was named by the Rev. Glen O. Burnett for a Church of Christ in Missouri where he had served as pastor. Bethel is a common name for churches as it is a Hebrew word that means "house of god". After traveling with his family on the Oregon Trail, Burnett settled on a Donation Land Claim in 1846. Burnett later rode circuit to the surrounding area, preaching in nearby communities, including Rickreall.