Champoeg

Champoeg sits in Marion County, Oregon, roughly midway between Salem and Oregon City in the Willamette Valley. In the early 1840s it functioned as a significant settlement and holds a notable place in regional history as the location where the first provisional government of the Oregon Country was established.

Today Champoeg is a ghost town — the community that once stood here is gone, leaving visitors with a historically resonant site rather than an active town. Those who make the trip come primarily to connect with that early Oregon history and to take in the valley setting where these events unfolded.