Whorehouse Meadow

Whorehouse Meadow is a meadow located on the west slope of Steens Mountain northeast of Frenchglen, Oregon, United States. It earned its name in the days of the Old West. Entrepreneuring females from Vale, Oregon would set up wood and canvas tents in the meadow to provide services to the sheepherders and cattlemen of the area. Many of the sheepherders were Basque American immigrants, and their sometimes explicit carvings can still be found in the bark of aspen trees surrounding the meadow. The name was changed briefly in the 1960s to "Naughty Girl Meadow" on Bureau of Land Management maps, but in 1981 the old name was restored after public outcry.

References