Vintage Inn Bed and Breakfasts

Enjoy a slice of the Pacific Northwest's "Breath of Fresh Air" during your stay at Vancouver, USA! Our moderate daytime temperatures and cool evenings provide a comfortable, healthy lifestyle. Choose a good book or magazine, snuggle under a cozy quilt, and relax in the peaceful, serene atmosphere of the past

Vancouver, Washington sits on the north bank of the Columbia River right across from Portland, Oregon. The Pacific Coast is no more than 90 miles to the west. The Cascade Mountain Range rises to the east. Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and Mt. Hood are less than two hours away by car. The breathtaking Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area lies 30 minutes to the east. Vancouver puts together the excitement of a major metropolitan area with small-town charm and abundant relaxing opportunities.

Vancouver shares its name with the larger city of Vancouver found 305 miles (491 km) north in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Both Vancouvers were named in honor of sea captain George Vancouver, even though the Canadian city was incorporated 29 years after the incorporation of Vancouver, Washington, and much more than 60 years after the name Vancouver was first used in reference to the historic Fort Vancouver trading post on the Columbia River. City officials have occasionally suggested changing the US city's name to Fort Vancouver, Vancouver USA, or even Old Vancouver to reduce confusion with its neighbor to the north. Many Pacific Northwest residents distinguish between the two cities by referring to the Canadian city as "Vancouver, B.C." and the United States one as "Vancouver, Washington", "Vantucky" or simply as "The 'Couv(e).

The Vancouver, Washington area was inhabited by so many different Native American tribes, most recently the Chinook and Klickitat nations, with permanent settlements of timber longhouses. The Chinookan and Klickitat names for the area were reportedly Skit-so-to-ho and Ala-si-kas, respectively, meaning "land of the mud-turtles." First European contact was in 1775, with about one half of the indigenous population killed by small pox before the Lewis and Clark expedition camped in the area in 1806. Within another fifty years, other actions and diseases such as measles, malaria and influenza had reduced the Chinookan population from an estimated 80,000 "to some dozen refugees, landless, slaveless and swindled out of a treaty."

Meriwether Lewis bnb wrote that the Vancouver area was "the only desired situation for settlement west of the Rocky Mountains." The first permanent European settlement did not occur until 1824, when Fort Vancouver was created as a fur trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company. Since that time, the area was settled by both the US and Britain under a "joint occupation" agreement. Joint occupation led to the Oregon boundary dispute and ended on June 15, 1846, with the signing of the Oregon Treaty, which gave the United States full control of the area. Before 1845, American Henry Williamson laid out a large claim west of the Hudson's Bay Company (including part of the present-day Port of Vancouver), called Vancouver City and properly registered his claim at the U.S. courthouse in Oregon City, before leaving for California. The City of Vancouver was incorporated on January 23, 1857

Because of an act in the 1859--60 legislature, Vancouver was for a brief period the capital of the Washington Territory, before being returned to Olympia, Washington by a 2-1 ruling of the territory's supreme court, in accordance with Isaac Stevens' preference and concern that closeness to Oregon might give its southern neighbor undue influence.

U.S. Army Captain (and future President) Ulysses S. Grant was quartermaster at what was then known as Columbia Barracks for 15 months beginning in September 1852. Shortly after leaving Vancouver, he resigned from the army and did not serve again until the start of the American Civil War. Other notable generals to have worked in Vancouver include George B. McClellan, Philip Sheridan, Oliver O. Howard and 1953 Nobel Peace Prize recipient George Marshall.

Vancouver has recently experienced some conflicts with other Clark County communities due to rapid growth in the area. Because of urban growth and annexation, Vancouver is usually thought of as split between two areas, West and East Vancouver, divided by NE Andresen Road. West Vancouver is home to downtown Vancouver and some of the more historical parts of the city, in addtion to recent high density mixed-use development.

Over one-third of the Vancouver urban area's population has spilled into an unincorporated urban area north of its city limits, including the communities of Hazel Dell, Felida, Orchards and Salmon Creek. If county leaders had approved a major annexation plan in 2006, Vancouver would have passed Tacoma and Spokane to become the state's second-biggest city.