Clark Gable Slept Here: Oregon Wolf Creek Inn

Tours Travel

Grants Pass, Oregon is a rafter’s paradise due to its access to the Rogue River. If water sports aren’t your style, maybe theater is. Ashland is only 45 minutes away and is home to not only Shakespeare productions, but this season will feature musicals and plays such as My Fair Lady, The Music Man and August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. Whatever you like, if you plan to be in the area, don’t miss a chance to visit a very special place in nearby Wolf Creek, off Interstate 5.

The Wolf Creek Inn, operated by Mark and Margaret Quist, was built in 1883 by pioneering merchant Henry Smith. Originally a stagecoach stop, it is now the oldest continuous-use hotel in the state of Oregon. Step inside and you’ll hear the floorboards creak as you enter the vintage living room where an antique radio plays music like Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey while the scent of the marionberry cobbler wafts from the kitchen. The varied menu offers seafood and comfort foods such as turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and homemade potato salad.

If you book a room, you will be in good company. Former United States President Rutherford B. Hayes honored Wolf Creek with his presence, and writer Jack London was a guest. Upstairs you can see the latter’s room, which remains furnished almost as it was when he wrote a story, “The end of the story” in a room. In another, he completed his novel, Valley of the Moon.

He has also been a favorite of Hollywood legends such as Mary Pickford, Carole Lombard, Frederic March, Patrick Stewart, Robert Redford, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Take a look at the room Clark Gable used to stay in when he wanted a fishing getaway from the pressures of Tinsel Town.

While in the area, you can visit the ghost town of Golden, just a few minutes’ drive from the hotel. As a gold rush settlement, like most cities of the time, it had one church, in fact it had two, but it was distinguished by a very unusual feature: it had no halls. The general store and one of the churches still stand, evoking memories of past citizens, who in turn challenge you to ignore the legend of a vampire apparition haunting the surrounding forests. Sometimes he’s not in the trees, but taking a much-needed break at home … at The Wolf Creek Inn residence.

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