Zena, Oregon

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Zena is a former community (considered a ghost town) approximately 10 miles northwest of Salem, Oregon, United States, in Polk County. The community was established in 1858 was originally called "Spring Valley". It was renamed "Zena" by D.J. Cooper and his brother, pioneers from Missouri. In 1866 they built a store and obtained the post office there, renaming the community in tribute to their wives, Arvazena and Melzena Cooper. [1]

According to Arvazena Cooper:

Grandpa [Elbert Emmerson Cooper] went over into Polk County during this week and got a place to stop at from Bolivar Walker. Afterward he bought a place from Nels Walling, paying for it with his outfit he crossed the plains with. It was at a place afterwards called Zena, near a church where Grandpa preached for several years." ^[1]

Zena is home to the historic Spring Valley Presbyterian Church.

The 1992 novel The Road to Zena by Joel Redon is set in Zena.

[edit] References

^ by Nancy Cooper Thomas, Arvazena's daughter, in an addendum to Arvazena Angeline Spillman Cooper's "Our Journey Across the Plains". This tells the story of the covered-wagon trip undertaken by Daniel Jackson Cooper, his wife Arvazena, their 18-month-old daughter Belle, and Daniel's father, Elbert Emmerson Cooper, across the plains from Missouri to Oregon during the "War of the Great Rebellion".