Love Finds You in Bridal Veil, Oregon by Miralee Ferrell

She fell in love at the tender age of sixteen and got her hea rt broken just six months later-and she’s never forgotten that man. At almost twenty-one years o ld, she’s been a teacher in Bridal Veil for three years and is an only child of her widowed father. She’s incredibly loyal and goes out of her way (even at her own expense) to meet the needs of others in her small community. Here is one of the tunnels going through a rock cliff.Margaret was such a joy to get acquainted with, as she’s the kind of wom an I’d love to have a s a friend. Later, he and his team were hired on to help clear the trees and stumps for the now-famous Old Columbia River Highway, a beautiful national treasure with amazing tunnels and gorgeous rock work, running parallel to and above the I-84 freeway. The fire figures prominently in the later part of my book, but I never expected to come close to living it myself, many years later.Īnother interesting fact is that my great-great grandfather and his new bride settled in Bridal Veil and logged with his team of horses for the saw mill. Now, a little over 100 yrs later, that same general area was hit by a huge wildfire (caused by a teen boy who was shooting bottle rockets in the driest time of the summer, out on the hiking trails) that again threatened that area and wiped out thousands of acres of beautiful forest. Palmer, the little mill town on the mountain, and threatened Bridal Veil. Thanks to KATU.COM for this pic.see their There was a huge fire during the time period my book was set that wiped out Palmer is where the logs came to and were sawed into large, square beams, then sent down the elaborate flume system to the lower mill in Bridal Veil, where they were sawed into lumber and shipped by paddle wheel boat at first, and eventually, by train. Both towns were booming logging and sawmill towns. He took me over the entire area, including a little used/hard to access road leading up to what used to be the town of Palmer, on the mountainside above Bridal Veil. He wrote a book about the history of Bridal Veil called Stories of Bridal Veil as well as one about Palmer, Beneath the Ashes. While researching, I met Tom Cowling, a wonderful man (see the pic above in front of the PO) who grew up in Bridal Veil and lived there for over 40 years. Brides from all over the nation send boxes of wedding invitations there to have them postmarked 'Bridal Veil'.

The only thing remaining are a few homes, a community center (not historical) and a tiny post office that's the second smallest in the nation, but does a booming business for sending out mail.

The Forest Service tore down most of the remaining decrepit buildings over 25 years or so ago. Hardest? Bridal Veil doesn't exist anymore.

Love Finds You in Bridal Veil, Oregon by Miralee Ferrell