Camp Adair, Oregon

Camp Adair was a United States Army (and later, briefly, United States Navy) base built near Corvallis, Oregon in 1941, and used to train infantry divisions during World War II. Built when Oregon was much less populous than it is now, and during the rush of wartime construction, this temporary army camp became the second largest city in Oregon. Towards the end of World War II, it was used by the United States Navy as a rehabilitation facility for wounded sailors, and also as a Prisoner of War camp for Italian and German POWs.

After the end of World War II, the area was rapidly decommissioned. Most of the barracks and other structures that were so hastily put up decayed quickly. The center of the camp was turned into a state wildlife area. The central grid of the camp, about 2 miles by 1 mile, still stands, with a network of city roads passing through an area of scrub, forest and swamp, with some foundations and fragments of buildings still standing. The sensation of walking through a city grid with no buildings is an eerie one. The camp also does have some historical monuments to explain its history during the war, but it is more used as a place for hunting, fishing and archery practice than history. It is a good spot for wildlife viewing, but due to its position next to a highway, and the fragmentation of the forest by the road network, is not a good place to see more timid species.