Crown Point is a basalt promontory in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge, about 15 miles east of Portland, rising 733 feet above the river and long valued as a natural lookout with sweeping views. Also known historically as Thor’s Heights or Thor’s Crown, it is a remnant of a lava flow that filled the Columbia’s ancestral channel roughly 14 to 17 million years ago. Its summit holds Vista House, an Art Nouveau observatory completed in 1918 as both a memorial to Oregon pioneers and a comfort station for highway travelers. The 1914 Crown Point Viaduct and Vista House together create a distinctive engineered landscape on the Historic Columbia River Highway.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Orient, Oregon · USA