Step back in time and hear Pendleton’s stories come alive!
The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), together with the Eastern Oregon
Visitors Association and local partners, has launched a brand-new audio walking
tour: Legends of Pendleton: Figures, Myths, and the Spirit of Resilience.
The tour is available now on the free VoiceMap app: https://voicemap.me/tour/pendleton-oregon/legends-of-pendleton-figures-myths-and-the-spirit-of-resilience
After VoiceMap is downloaded onto a phone, visitors are guided by a narrator along the tour route. This 0.8 mile tour invites listeners to stroll through downtown Pendleton while hearing tales of the past including the 1911 Round-Up, 1900s Chinatown, and the Triple Nickles, the U.S. Army’s first all-Black paratrooper unit.
The Pendleton tour starts at the Heritage Station Museum, strolls around downtown and ends at the Main Street Bridge. Along the way, listeners discover how Pendleton’s history is woven into its buildings, streets and public art. A narration of the tour in Spanish is also available.
“The audio tour is a wonderful way to share the history of downtown Pendleton and all it has to offer,” said Shannon Gruenhagen, chair of the HPC and Executive Director of the Umatilla County Historical Society and Heritage Station Museum. “It is also a great example of why historic preservation of our buildings is so important.
When we tell stories about the past, those stories have a greater impact when visitors have tangible examples right in front of them.”The tours were developed in partnership with the City of Pendleton, Umatilla County Historical Society, Pendleton Downtown Association and Pendleton Chamber of Commerce. This new tour builds on the success of the History Preserved Pendleton tours, which highlighted historic downtown buildings, and the bronze statue tours. It is part of a larger Eastern Oregon Visitors Association project creating free
audio tours across the region.
Additional tours can be found through this link.
For more information about the Pendleton tour, please contact the HPC at 541-966-0203 or email [email protected]
