Bethel Heights Vineyard

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Eola Hills are a range of hills northwest of Salem, Oregon, United States. They stretch from the community of Eola about 10 miles (16 km) north to Yamhill County. They are divided from the Salem Hills by the Willamette River at Eola.

Spring Valley is a valley in Polk County, Oregon, United States, situated north and east of the Eola Hills and west of the Willamette River. It corresponds roughly to the drainage of Spring Valley Creek. Populated places in Spring Valley include Zena and Lincoln. Oregon Route 221 passes along the east side of the valley, next to the Willamette River. The area is in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA wine region and is home to several notable vineyards, including Cristom.

McCoy is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It was named after the landowner Isaac McCoy. Its post office was established in 1879 with James A. Sears as the postmaster, and closed in 1968.

Crowley is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It is located east of Oregon Route 99W, about four miles north of Rickreall.Crowley was a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad between Derry and McCoy, established in 1892 as "Crowleys" and named for Solomon Kimsey Crowley. Crowley, who was born in Missouri in 1833, came west in 1852 and settled in the Oak Grove area of Polk County in 1855. The "s" was dropped from the name of the station in 1898. The rail line is now owned by the Portland and Western Railroad, but Crowley is no longer a station. The Crowley post office operated intermittently from 1881 to 1904. There was later a Crowley post office established in Malheur County.

Western Christian School is a private Christian school for grades K-12 located near Salem, Oregon, United States. The school was founded in 1945 and has been accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools since 1975. The school is located on a 45 acre campus just 9 miles north of West Salem and about 15 miles from McMinnville. The school was known as Western Mennonite School until 2018. Competing under the Oregon Schools Athletic Association (OSAA), the athletic teams consistently play in post-season games and move on to the State tournament. The boys' basketball team won the State 2A-3 Championship for the 2010–11 season, and the girls' basketball team won the State 2A Championship for the 2014–15 season.

Hopewell is an unincorporated community in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. It is at the eastern terminus of Oregon Route 153, 10 miles (16 km) south of Dayton and a few miles west of Wheatland, at the east base of the Eola Hills. Hopewell post office was established in 1897, and closed out to Amity in 1903. Hopewell is now served by the Salem post office. The name Hopewell does not appear in the gazetteers of the 1880s.Hopewell was the home of George K. Gay, who voted in the May 1843 Champoeg Meeting that created the provisional government, and built the first brick residence in the state of Oregon near Hopewell in 1842. Gay's great-grandson, singer Johnnie Ray, spent his early years in Hopewell.