Laurel is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. Settled in 1872, the community is located between Hillsboro and Newberg, in the southern portion of the Tualatin Valley in the foothills of the Chehalem Mountains. The community retains its agricultural heritage. Laurel is served by the Hillsboro School District and includes the century-old Laurel Valley Store building, which is in the process of being turned into a restaurant.
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The Chehalem Mountains AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in the Yamhill and Washington counties of northwestern Oregon. It contains two sub-regions, Laurelwood District AVA and Ribbon Ridge AVA.
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Midway is an unincorporated rural community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located on Oregon Route 219 about 2.5 miles west of Scholls. The area is the halfway point between Hillsboro to the north and Sherwood to the southeast, thus it became known as Midway. Midway has a large plant nursery business, a bar and grill and a rural fire station for Washington County Fire District 2.
Midway's 1912 former one-room schoolhouse, closed in 1946, has been preserved as a private residence. Before being converted into a home, it served as a lodge for the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs. When the school closed, Midway School District merged with the Jacktown, Groner and Kinton school districts to form the Groner School District, which along with other small districts such as Farmington View later merged into the Hillsboro School District.
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Quamash Prairie Natural Area is a 160-acre protected wet prairie in Washington County, Oregon and bounded by the Tualatin River. It is co-administered by Oregon Metro and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. It is specifically managed as a camas prairie.
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Farmington is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located on the Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette, about eight miles southwest of Beaverton, at the intersection of Oregon Route 10 and River Road. It is about two miles east of the junction of OR 10 with Oregon Route 219. Farmington was one of the earliest settlements in Oregon and was prominent for a time as an important milling and grain-shipping point on the Tualatin when steamships were the principal means of shipping grain along the Willamette River.
Farmington was the site of an early Christian Church, founded by 1845 pioneers in Sarah and Philip Harris, who arrived in Oregon via the Meek Cutoff. At that time the locale was called "Bridgeport". Baptisms were in the Tualatin River.
Philip Harris began ferry service, which became known as the Harris-Landess Ferry, across the Tualatin River; he later built a bridge at the same location. Today there is modern bridge there named in his honor. In 1851 there was a post office named Harris Ferry at this locale; Philip Harris was the postmaster.
The community was probably named for Farmington, Connecticut. Farmington post office was established in 1884 and closed in 1904.
The building at the crossroads that currently serves as a restaurant dates to the 1920s; most of the time it housed a tavern but at least once it served as a store. It has been a restaurant since March 2009.
The old Farmington School is about a mile and a half northwest of the crossroads on private property on Rood Bridge Road. It is one of several one-room schools, including the one at Laurel, that merged to become the current Farmington View Elementary School in the Hillsboro School District in 1950. The school is about three miles northwest of Farmington on OR 219. The bell in front of Farmington View originally hung at Laurel School.
Farmington was the birthplace of William G. Hare, Oregon state senator and representative.
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Oak Knoll Winery is a privately held winery located in the Tualatin Valley near Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Established in 1970, it is the oldest winery in Washington County, and produces Pinot noir, Pinot gris, and Chardonnay. The winery also known for producing Frambosia, a red raspberry wine.
Oak Knoll does not have its own vineyards, instead purchasing grapes from area Willamette Valley grape producers.
As an unincorporated community, Laurel has no defined boundaries or population statistics of its own.