In 1917, the Freemasons initiated designs for a beautiful retreat in Forest Grove, Ore., just 26 miles outside Portland, which would be a home for aged and infirm masons as well as their widows and children. The lodge featured an elegant columnar façade overlooking verdant, sprawling grounds that also held a small dairy and farm.
The masons eventually relocated in the 1980s, and the McMenamins brothers became the custodians for the Grand Lodge in 1999. Their renovation pays homage to the property’s history while applying that unique and quirky McMenamins touch. “The idea was to make a big space feel more intimate,” says Shannon McMenamin, the daughter of co-founder Mike McMenamin. As you walk down long hallways hung with local artwork, the lodge feels vast. But there are dozens of small, warmly lit spaces that feel like quiet, private nooks.
It can be difficult to leave the lodge. Besides the bars and restaurants which dot the property, such as the comfortable cottage that is Pat’s Corner and the music venue the Garage Door, the lodge also has a secluded soaking pool and Ruby’s Spa, which offers facials and body treatments in addition to a nail salon. But many visitors choose to return to the lodge in the afternoon after visiting the nearby wineries, of which there are now almost 700. Companies like the Grape Escape will provide transportation and customized tours.
Soter Vineyards, Kramer Vineyards and Elk Cove Vineyards all make excellent examples of the Pinot Noir that has made the Willamette Valley famous. But a whole new set of businesses are setting up shop around Forest Grove as well, attracted by the same factors that lured in the wineries—affordable land, fertile soil and the cool breezes off the coast range.
Quail Run Creamery is a small family-owned dairy farm that breeds and sells Nigerian dwarf goats and makes rich chèvre and feta cheese from the goats’ luxuriously creamy milk. And there are plenty of alternatives in the area for the non-wine drinker. Bull Run Cider makes their exquisite sparkling dry ciders from apples that Pete Mulligan and Galen Williams have grown themselves.
Only a few minutes away from the Grand Lodge itself is SakéOne, one of the premier American sake breweries that offers tours and tastings, not only of their extensive line of premium high quality and some organic sakes but also of difficult-to-find Japanese sakes. Of course, guests can enjoy the McMenamins’ own range of beer, wine and spirits as well. The Cornelius Pass Roadhouse is a mere 15 minute drive away, where distiller Arthur Price makes gin, brandy and whiskey on a still that was made by hand around the time of World War I.
Although Forest Grove was once quiet enough to provide a Masonic country retreat, the woods and fields of the coastal foothills are now home to a wide range of exciting new attractions, and the Grand Lodge is the perfect home base. Once you’ve exhausted yourself, return for a massage, a soak and a book by the fire in one of the most beautiful historic buildings in the state.
McMenamins Grand Lodge || 3505 Pacific Ave, Forest Grove, OR || mcmenamins.com
