Mt. Angel, Oregon

We are now settled in Silverton, Oregon, which we visited three years ago.  Yesterday we drove north of the town to Mt.Angel, a small town with German roots tucked in the countryside which surrounds Silverton.  We drove by fields of corn and even larger fields of hops.  There are also apple orchards in this part of the country.  Along the way drove through the Gallon Covered Bridge, built in 1916.

The 84-foot bridge earned its name as the place to get a gallon of moonshine during Prohibition.  Coming into Mt.Angel the Glockenspiel Restaurant was the first building which caught our eyes.

After touring Mount Angel Abbey we returned to watch the figures of the Glockenspiel dance about and to hear the music.  The hand carved figures tell the history of the town.  Mount Angel is famous for its Oktoberfest, one of the Northwest's largest folk festivals.  It will be occurring in a couple of weeks, unfortunately we will miss it.

On the eastern edge of the town is a 480 foot knoll which the Native Americans called "place of communion with the Great Spirit".  It was renamed Mount Angel by Father Odermutt in 1882 when he established the Mount Angel Abbey on its slopes.  The chapel of the abbey is pictured above.  The inside of the church is quite beautiful with its wooden beams.

We enjoyed our walk over the grounds of the abbey, which overlooks the farmlands below and has views of Mount Hood off in the distance.  We were going to by-pass the museum of the abbey, but a seminarian encouraged us to see it.  What a surprise!  It had nothing to do with the history of the monastery but has on display various collections donated to the abbey.  There are exhibitions of stuffed animals and birds, as well as pottery from Jerusalem dated 300-200 B.C.  There are also ancient instruments from around the world, as well as art collections.  The museum is in a building off to the side of the main buildings- one would never guess that there are valuable artifacts and art located in that museum.