Can a single tower hold the stories of centuries?

They call it the Astoria Column—Oregon’s “Beacon Above the Pacific.” At 600 feet above sea level, it watches over the mouth of the Columbia like a sentinel carved in time. I arrived just before sunrise, the summer air still warm from the previous day, yet the world around me hushed in reverence.

The light was soft—shy, even—as it slipped through the trees and climbed the painted column. Photographing in such early light meant every second mattered. Shadows stretched. Exposure changed with each breath of the wind. But when the sun crested the hills in front of me, the column glowed. Every story etched in plaster—Lewis and Clark, the Chinook, the timber, the tides—seemed to rise into light.

At this place where history meets the sky, my hope is that this image carries you there, into that moment—quiet, bold, enduring.