Kelley Point Park, Urban park at Columbia and Willamette Rivers confluence, Portland, US
Kelley Point Park is an urban park at the northern tip of Portland, Oregon, located exactly where the Columbia River and the Willamette River meet. The grounds are covered with native black cottonwood trees, and several viewpoints along the bank give a clear view of the two rivers flowing together.
During the 20th century, the site was managed by the Port of Portland and used to deposit material dredged from the rivers. In 1984, the land was converted into a public park open to everyone.
The name Kelley Point was adopted in 1926 at the request of Portland citizens, honoring Hall Jackson Kelley (1790–1874), a New Englander who promoted settlement in Oregon and in 1834 tried without success to found a city at the confluence. Before that, the tip was a separate landmass called Nigger Tom Island, named for a blind African nobleman who once lived there.
Kelley Point Park is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is operated by Portland Parks & Recreation. The 40-Mile Loop hiking and biking trail runs past the entrance, and an informal canoe launch on the Columbia Slough lies near the park entrance along Kelley Point Park Road, west of Interstate 5 off North Marine Drive. Paved and unpaved paths lead to a vista point overlooking both rivers.
The precise point where the two rivers meet is actually located in the water, not on the shore, so what visitors see from the bank is an approximation of the true confluence. On calm days, the difference in color and speed between the two currents is visible on the surface of the water.
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