Sunriver Resort is a

luxury resort A resort hotel is a hotel which often contains full-sized resort facilities with full-service accommodations and luxury amenities. These hotels may attract both business conferences and vacationing tourists and offer more than a convenient plac ...

and residential community in

central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards t ...

, in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The resort is located at the edge of the high desert, just east of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

, in Sunriver, south of Bend and south-southeast of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

. The common areas throughout the Sunriver resort community are managed by the Sunriver Owners' Association. The elevation of the resort is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

History

Sunriver's land used to be a lake bed, which dried out and became a meadow. It was a meeting place for Native Americans living in the area and was later adopted by settlers, trappers, and explorers, including

Peter Skene Ogden Peter Skene Ogden (alternately Skeene, Skein, or Skeen; baptised 12 February 1790 – 27 September 1854) was a British-Canadian fur trader and an early explorer of what is now British Columbia and the Western United States. During his many exped ...

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...

, and

John Fremont John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, who led expeditions along the

Deschutes River The Deschutes River ( ) in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many of the tributaries that descend from the drier, easte ...

in the early-to-mid-19th century. In 1943, the meadow was claimed as a training ground for combat construction battalions of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

and was established as Camp Abbot. Construction was started on the camp in November 1942 and it officially opened when Colonel Frank S. Benson assumed command on May 12, 1943. It closed soon after

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

in July 1944 and most of the buildings were razed. The officers' club, constructed from native logs and stones, was left standing and is now the "Great Hall," used for meetings and weddings. Following the war, the land returned to use as a cattle ranch until the mid-1960s. In 1965, Donald V. McCallum (1918–1987), a Portland attorney, and John D. Gray (1919–2012), founder of Omark Industries, bought the land and planned to build a luxury resort on it. Their idea was to create a resort and residential community with a focus on maintaining the integrity of the environment, including creating a finite number of home sites. The first home site at Sunriver was sold on June 28, 1968, and ground was broken on the resort's lodge in mid-August, which opened in September 1969. The resort that McCallum and Gray established was bought in 1993 by Sunriver Resort Limited Partnership, who began an extensive capital improvement program.

The Resort

Sunriver Resort offers a variety of accommodations, including luxury guest rooms and suites, as well as 400

vacation rental A vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed resort-condominium complex on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. The term ''vacation rental'' is mainly used in the US. Othe ...

properties. It has five dining areas, three tennis facilities, family recreation, and is home to the Sage Springs Club and Spa. The resort has over of meeting and banquet space. The resort is home to three golf courses: Meadows, Woodlands, and Crosswater. Crosswater, named one of "America's 100 Greatest Courses" by

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its TNT Sports unit. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. The magazine started by John F. ...

, was the home of the

JELD-WEN Tradition The Tradition (known as the Regions Tradition for sponsorship reasons) is an event on the PGA Tour Champions. First staged in 1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eas ...

, a major championship on the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, open to golfers age 50 and over, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, f ...

from 2007 to 2010. The Meadows golf course was designed by acclaimed architect

John Fought John Fought III (born January 28, 1954) is an American golf course architect and professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour. Amateur career Fought (rhymes with "boat") was born in Portland, Oregon. H ...

and the Woodlands golf course was designed by the renowned architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. The region's primary winter attraction, Mount Bachelor ski area, is about 20 minutes away by vehicle.

References

External links

Sunriver ResortSunriver Area Chamber of Commerce''Environmentally Conscious Design: A Case Study of Sunriver, Oregon''
{{coord, 43.87, -121.45, source:googlemapssatellite_region:US-OR_type:landmark_dim:5000, display=title Buildings and structures in Deschutes County, Oregon Hotels in Oregon Resorts in Oregon Tourist attractions in Deschutes County, Oregon 1968 establishments in Oregon