The area of Astoria and Warrenton is a nationally significant historic region at the western end of the Lewis & Clark Trail. Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies; a place that takes visitors back to simpler times, its architecture dominated by hundreds of Victorian homes clinging to steep wooded hillsides and with a revitalized 1920s era downtown; all set against a backdrop of tremendous natural beauty in the temperate rain forest at the mouth of the Columbia River. Visitors have an opportunity to escape into an appealing, intriguing past. Unspoiled and generally uncrowded, Astoria and Warrenton nonetheless have several first-class interpretive attractions including Fort Clatsop, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Flavel House, Fort Stevens State Park, the Astoria Riverfront Trolley and the Astoria Column. The area has an extraordinary sense of place and feeling of history. Astoria is a city of 10,000 people on the Columbia River, just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. It is surrounded by the beauty of the forest, mountains, 3 rivers and the sea. Just across Youngs Bay is Warrenton, a city of 4,500, that encompasses Fort Stevens State Park and its broad, clean ocean beaches. Because of its steep hills and beautiful Victorian homes, Astoria has been Called the “Little San Francisco of the Pacific Northwest."