You are cordially invited to attend an event of local interest and national importance

The skies cleared, briefly, Saturday April 7th, 2001, for the dedication of OCTA's newest site marker. The marker designating Abernethy Green was placed at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City, Oregon.

Representing OCTA were David and Wendy Welch, Roger Blair and Susan Doyle, Tom Laidlaw and Jim Tompkins.

David Welch, national president of OCTA and recent president of the Northwest chapter gave a few brief remarks before symbolically handing over the marker to the EOTIC. He noted that this is the northernmost marker as yet placed by OCTA. He reminded the audience that "this represents OCTA's mission of preservation, appreciation and education of overland trails."
David Porter, executive director of the Oregon Trail Foundation, which oversees the EOTIC, in accepting the marker said that "this presents tangible evidence to visitors of the significance of this historical place."

John Williams, mayor of Oregon City, noted that this is "another little bit that adds to the totality of Oregon City's place in history. Mayor Williams then stated that his ancestors came over the Southern Applegate Route to found the town of Blodgett, Oregon. This information led to a conversation with Dave Welch, whose ancestors followed the same route.

The marker is attached to a large rock at the very entrance to the EOTIC and has drawn the attention of most every person arriving at the center.The text of the marker, written by Northwest chapter member and Oregon Trail Foundation trustee Dr. Jim Tompkins, reads:

"Abernethy Green

Originally called Green Point, Indians gathered here for over 3,000 years to fish at Willamette Falls. George Abernethy arrived here June 2, 1840, with the "Great Reinforcement" of Jason Lee's Willamette Mission. He took 640 acres just north of Oregon City including a neck of land that extended to the Willamette River. This neck became known as Abernethy Green. George and Anna (Pope) Abernethy built their house at the mouth of Abernethy Creek next to the Methodist Mission where the first laws of Oregon were drafted.

Oregon Trail emigrants started arriving on rafts from Fort Vancouver in 1843. They put in at Abernethy's house and climbed up to Abernethy Green. Arriving in late fall or early winter, most of them opted to winter over in encampments at Abernethy Green. During their stay here they would scout out their piece of the Willamette Valley, file their claim at the Government Land Office and resupply in Oregon City at places like Pettygrove's Red Store or Governor Abernethy's Mercantile.

Beginning in 1846, two-thirds of Oregon Trail emigrants took Sam Barlow's Mt. Hood Toll Road, which ended right here at Abernethy Green. During peak years of the Oregon Trail migrations, Abernethy Green would be filled with covered wagons and neighbors Hiram Straight, Hugh Burns, Daniel Tompkins and Jacob Hunsaker took the overflow. In 1851 Hunsaker's wife took in an emigrant family with mountain fever and she lost a son and daughter to the disease. A rose from Mayor John McLoughlin still grows on their grave.

A devastating flood in 1861 destroyed everything nearby. Abernethy was financially ruined and left for Portland. By this time improvements along the Oregon Trail had cut travel time almost in half and emigrants no longer needed to winter over. Abernethy Green ceased being the encampment at the end of the Oregon Trail."