Forest Park Neighborhood

Here is a collage giving some insight into Forest Park neighborhood

The Forest Park neighborhood is bordered by the Northwest Heights, Nob Hill, and Linnton, which is down along Highway 30! It is basically right on the edge of NW Portland, so is only five or ten minutes commute into downtown proper in most traffic conditions. Forest Park includes houses that are in the inner city forest above downtown NW Portland but it also goes out along Skyline and merges with Forest Heights.  The reason people usually move here is because of the proximity to Portland, the gorgeous forest and trails, the views and the amazing schools!

The Forest Park neighborhood itself is right on the edge of Forest Park. It goes along Skyline Blvd- which is a road that hikers and bikers love to run and bike on- the houses on the east look out over Forest Park and the Willamette- the ones to the west look out over the huge valley below. Some of the views are breathtaking! The area feels like a suburban neighborhood, but is really close to downtown. They have all kinds of homes – from condos and townhomes up to huge mansions. Most of the houses have been built in the past 10-15 years- it is growing like crazy. There are so many new neighborhoods with a suburbia feel. A lot of them have views of the coast range or the forest- and many are within walking distance to the trails of Forest Park. It runs right along the ridge up above Forest Park down to NW Cornell- and then back without any real exact ending. It is bordered by the Northwest Heights, and Linnton neighborhoods.

Forest Heights is right next to this neighborhood, but it is in Washington County. A lot of Intel Employees live here- because it drops right down into Beaverton-Hillsboro area. There are some gorgeous new houses that have been built up there, plus a lot of new condos and townhouses built around little shopping areas. The surrounding rolling farmland is beautiful.

Parks

portland neighborhood guide, forest park

Forest Park is in the Tualatin Mountains. Here is shows all the creeks that flow into the river below.

portland creative realtors, forest park trails

Here is a map of trails in forest park

  • Forest Park is a huge 5000 acre forest right in the middle of NW Portland. It stretches out 8 miles on hillsides that overlook the Willamette River , and there are over 70 miles of trails. It is actually the larges natural urban forest in the United States, and the 3rd largest urban park! This park is home to over 100 species of mammals and more than 100 kinds of birds have been seen in the Park. In the spring, hillsides are covered with trilliums, wildflowers, ferns, flowers and shrubs.
  • The Audubon Society of Portland has an adjacent wildlife sanctuary covering 143 acres, which includes more than 4 miles (6.4 km) of trails. The 30+ mile long Wildwood Trail (a National Recreational Trail) traverses the Park from the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Hoyt Arboretum to Newberry Road.

History of Forest Park Neighborhood

In 1903, Thomas Eliot,  an early pioneer who was also a Unitarian minister, worked with the Olmsted Brothers to try and protect the forest that was just above Portland. It was called the Tualatin Mountain foothills.  They wanted to keep it as a virgin, untouched urban park, but people kept logging the old growth forest until there was a flood in 1915, which nearly washed away Leif Erickson Drive, which was supposed to become a future housing development.  This cut back on the logging, but the park wasn’t totally protected until after WW 2