The daily Astorian., August 13, 2020, Page 9, Image 9

Evening activity:
Find a hidden park
Columbia River Maritime Museum
Open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
adults are $14 ages 18 and older, seniors are $12
ages 65 and older, children are $5 ages 5-17,
children under 6 and active military are free.
By aLyssa EVaNs
One of astoria’s biggest draws among locals and
visitors is the town’s greenery, which can be found just
about everywhere. yet, if you aren’t paying attention,
you can easily miss that our town’s beloved green-
ery can be frequently spotted in small, hidden parks
throughout downtown.
If you’re interested in finding one of these small parks,
start by walking along Marine drive, at the corner of
15th street. There, you’ll find a small park with a plaque
for Tidal rock, a rock with a carved line that was used
as a high tide marker for mariners in the 1800s.
From there, walk up 15th street. Once you’re by Fort
george, you can view a small garden on the back of
the restaurant. There’s also a small park up another
block on 15th, which commemorates the u.s. Post
Office.
Other less traversed parks are located off 14th street,
Marine drive and by gray school.
Photos by Jonathan Williams
CLOCKWISE: Boats at the museum. Diving gear. The music room in the Flavel House Museum.
Continued from Page 8
start.
Walking through the home can feel like
entering the set of an Alfred Hitchcock
film. You can see the ornate music room,
formal parlor, dining room, kitchen and
some of the family’s bedrooms on the sec-
ond floor.
With large, floor to ceiling windows,
giant pocket doors and rooms so well-pre-
served with the furniture, paintings, musi-
cal instruments and photographs of the day,
you would expect the Flavel’s to walk into
the house at any moment.
The stately home and highly manicured
lawn are maintained by the Clatsop County
Historical Society. It is open daily for tours.
A short film inside the Carriage House is
worth watching to learn about Flavel, a
Columbia River bar pilot and an entrepre-
neur, his children’s musical talents and the
family’s trips to San Francisco and how the
house was built.
The house, a Victorian Queen Anne style
home, was completed in 1886. The Car-
riage House next to it was finished in 1887.
The exterior of the house features a wrap-
around porch, decorative ornamental work
above the windows and patterned shingles.
A three-story octagonal tower looms large
over the house and allowed Flavel a view of
boats in the Columbia River.
Columbia River Maritime Museum
Like the Flavel house, the Colum-
bia River Maritime Museum holds many
treasures.
Meshed in with the legacy of the U.S.
Coast Guard on the North Coast and the
perils of the Columbia River Bar is the story
of Astoria’s place in the Pacific Northwest.
The museum traces explorers’ trav-
els to the Northwest, Astoria’s maritime
history, immigrants, fur trading and John
Jacob Astor’s role in it, the Chinook Nation,
mapping the Pacific Coast, nautical terms
and equipment, whaling, canneries and
gillnetting.
The museum, housed in a building
shaped like a wave, is full of helpful wall
text and artifacts, maps, models of boats
(and large, real boats) interactive exhibits, a
3D movie theater and hurricane simulator.
Sounds of waves crashing and Coast
Guard crews performing rescues on the
Columbia River show the immediacy of life
on the river.
Staff recommend allowing for two hours
to visit the museum.
Thursday, augusT 13, 2020 // 9