Our Story
Our Story
A Note From the Owners
Ainsworth House & Gardens is a wedding and event venue where beauty, elegance, and history become one.
Since Christie’s father is originally from the Portland Metropolitan area, she traveled frequently from California to the Pacific Northwest in her younger years. John was born and raised in Colorado. We made our first trip to Oregon together in the fall of 2015 for a college visit with our son, Andrew. At that time, we reconnected with family and fell in love with the area.
Following that first visit, we made several trips each year. That number increased when our daughter, Anna, joined her brother at the University of Portland. Both our children felt at home in the Pacific Northwest, and we knew we had to join them.
When the opportunity arose to purchase a business in Oregon, we jumped at it. Ainsworth House & Gardens couldn’t be more perfect for us! We can take our experience in weddings, sales, and finance and parlay it into an amazing business opportunity while staying near our kids and extended family. Andrew and his wife, Jordyn, live in Seattle. Anna and her husband, Austin, live in Portland.
We are proud to be part of a team of professionals who love what we do. We, and they, will always strive to make your event as memorable as it is meaningful.
Whether you’re planning the wedding of your dreams, a special event, birthday, baptism, anniversary, celebration of life, or just want the perfect setting for a get-together, we invite you to explore the beauty and serenity of Ainsworth House & Gardens. Our grounds and facilities offer a simple, elegant, and extraordinary setting for you and your guests to enjoy!
~ Christie & John
Exploring Our Past
A Look Back at Our History
Born and raised in Ohio, Ainsworth was 13 years old when his father died. He immediately began to earn his own living as a storekeeper. When still in his teens, he was employed on the Mississippi and gained a rapid promotion, becoming a pilot and subsequently a master of a passenger steamship plying between St. Louis and up-river points.
Attracted to California in 1850 by the gold rush, Ainsworth was in Sacramento when offered the command of a new steamer that was under construction in Milwaukie, OR. Ainsworth came to the state late in 1850 to take command of the Lot Whitcomb, the first steamer built on the Willamette River, and the first steamer to ply a regular route on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.
From this point, Ainsworth’s mercantile activities grew in proportion to the rapid settlement of the country, and it was at this juncture that he ordered his house built south of Oregon City [in 1851]. (Quotation is from the National Register Nomination form for the mansion.)
You might have noticed that our street is Lot Whitcomb – and is named for the steamboat Captain Ainsworth once sailed. It also happens to be the name of one of the two designers/builders of the boat – one chose the captain, the other got to name her. In his humility, he named her after himself!
Captain Ainsworth was far more than a merchant and steamboat captain. He was a bit of a renaissance man. For that reason, he selected an architectural style which was as grand as his commercial development adventures in the Pacific Northwest. According to Architecture Oregon Style, the Ainsworth mansion is “Oregon’s best example of the Greek Revival temple form.”
Built as a reminder of the temples of Ancient Greece, this style was often used for buildings of exceptional importance within the community – an imposing courthouse, an elegant church, or a mansion for a wealthy citizen. At Captain Ainsworth’s mansion, the politically and socially powerful people of his day gathered for fabulous parties and to negotiate their next deals. Eight years older than the State of Oregon, the Ainsworth Mansion is on the National Registry of Historic Buildings and on the Oregon Historical Site Registry.
