Turning Down the Sound

In his new travelogue, Foster Church guides adventurers—lifelong residents of the Northwest and visitors alike—to the small communities beyond the state’s well-known urban center.

As in his previous book, Discovering Main Street: Travel Adventures in Small Towns of the Northwest, Church employs the finesse of his Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalism. He also shares his passion for encouraging travelers down less traveled paths—paths that curve beside valleys and wheat fields, travel along orchards and straits, and abut mountains and rivers.

Once inside these small towns, local flavors abound. Church reveals how each community’s unique character informs its hospitality and culture: in Morton, the abandoned Roxy movie theater was re-opened to host lectures and live performances. In the town of Palouse, a once-lonesome farming community in the Washington wheat country is now home to antiques shops and art galleries, and in Pomeroy, a pioneering legacy is celebrated in a lively annual festival.

With maps, photographs, and recommendations for more than thirty-five towns in all corners of the state, Turning Down the Sound vastly expands the resources available for readers and travelers keen on encountering what Church calls American tourism’s last frontier: its small towns.

View an excerpt here.

Excerpt on Stevenson here.

"Church's black and white photographs and succinct tips on food and lodging enhance the essays in Turning Down the Sound. Pairing this book with Discovering Main Street provides good advice on what to look for, what to look at, and what to compare and contrast in Northwest towns from Forks to Fossil and from Paisley to Palouse. Go out from Portland, depart from Pugetopolis, and see how the towns lay on the land."

–Richard Engeman, Oregon Historical Quarterly Winter 2014