It’s the first time an Oregon site has made the list from the National Trust for Historic Preservation
By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news
The historic chateau at the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, which has been closed since 2018 for rehabilitation work, has been listed as one of the nation’s most at-risk historic sites.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a national nonprofit dedicated to preserving American history, listed the historic caves chateau as one of its 11 Most Endangered Historic Places of 2025 last week.
It’s the first time an Oregon site has made the list, which draws national attention to historic sites in an effort to spur fundraising and preservation work, since it launched in 1988.
“Each site on this year’s list has inspired passionate supporters from their surrounding communities to work together to save these cherished landmarks and repurpose them for the public, now and into the future,” said Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Their leadership shows the power of preservation to create stronger communities, energized local economies, and a healthier environment for everyone.”
The designation comes as the National Park Service, which manages the Oregon Caves, braces for further federal funding cuts. President Donald Trump’s budget request for the coming fiscal year proposes cutting $900 million from NPS operations. The administration has also indicated it wants to transfer responsibility for smaller sites from the federal government to states.
Oregon Caves is located near Cave Junction and historically has drawn large numbers of tourists. The Depression-era chateau had been an attraction for overnighters and day visitors until its closure.
Along with Crater Lake, Redwood and Lassen Volcanic national parks, the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Lava Beds National Monument, and the Tule Lake Segregation Center, Oregon Caves is part of the NPS’s Circle of Discovery in Oregon and northern California.
The main draw of Oregon Caves is the caves, one of only a few marble cave systems in the country. But the chateau, built in 1934, is known to attract architectural buffs. It features a rustic exterior of Port Orford cedar bark, Cave Creek runs through the dining room, and it is home to the country’s largest public collection of Monterey furniture, a western style popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
The NPS closed the chateau in 2018 for an $8.6 million project to update wiring and plumbing and bring it into compliance with modern accessibility standards. But as work continued, major structural problems were identified. As a result, the NPS set aside an additional $4.5 million in 2020 but canceled its construction contract in 2023 because of insufficient funding.
The NPS faced a $23.3 billion deferred maintenance backlog as of July 2024, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. The Oregon Caves is one of five Oregon sites managed by the NPS. The state’s only national park, Crater Lake, is the best known, but the NPS also manages John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in eastern Oregon, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park near Astoria, and the McLoughlin House unit of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
Crater Lake National Park, which will close its boat tours and Cleetwood Cove trail to the lake’s surface for at least two years beginning in 2026 following the summer season for maintenance and upgrades to the trail and boat dock, also faces financial deficits with a deferred maintenance backlog of $240 million, according to the NPS.
Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net.
