The Haunted McMenamins Grand Lodge, Forest Grove: The Lavender Lady

The Grand Lodge stands on a broad lawn on Pacific Avenue in Forest Grove, about 40 minutes west of downtown Portland at the edge of the Willamette Valley wine country. The columned brick building opened in 1922 as the Masonic and Eastern Star Home, where elderly Masons and their families came to live out their lives. Since March 2000 McMenamins has run it as a 90-room hotel with bars, a soaking pool, a spa, a movie theater and summer concerts in the grove.

McMenamins does not hide the building’s best-known resident. Its own description warns that “late night revelers may meet the Lavender Lady, whose spirit is said to drift through the halls.” Staff have also reported children laughing in empty corridors, and Caitlin Popp, McMenamins’ tour guide manager, told Willamette Week in 2025 that she counts the Grand Lodge among the company’s most haunted properties. It is one of the gentler haunted hotels around Portland, and one of the best value.

The ghosts of McMenamins Grand Lodge

The Lavender Lady

The Grand Lodge’s famous ghost is the Lavender Lady, and McMenamins names her on its own website: “Late night revelers may meet the Lavender Lady, whose spirit is said to drift through the halls.” Stories gathered by That Oregon Life and Pacific University’s student paper describe a white-haired woman in a long patterned dress who leaves the scent of lavender behind her. She is often said to be a longtime resident, believed to be named Anna, who died in the building just short of 100, though the details are vague.

Former residents remembered her handing out books, and the story goes that during a renovation of the main entrance workers found a set of books that still smelled of lavender; the third-floor and attic rooms were named after literary works in her honor, and her likeness is painted on one of the doors. A construction worker named Tony told That Oregon Life he saw her “clear as day.”

An elderly woman in the halls

Most reports place her on the second floor of the main lodge. Tualatin Valley’s official tourism site goes as far as naming a room: book Room 232, it says, because the Lavender Lady is said to wait outside its door, and some guests have smelled lavender in the second-floor main hallway. OPB reported in 2014 that many people have seen a female apparition here.

Whether that is always the Lavender Lady or more than one former resident depends on who is telling the story. For nearly 80 years elderly residents spent their last years in the Masonic home, so it is not surprising the stories center on older women in the upstairs halls.

Children's laughter

The other repeated report is of children’s voices and laughter in empty parts of the building. The source most often given is the Children’s Cottage, built on the grounds in 1926 for the orphans of Masons and now a private event space.

The orphanage did not last long. It closed around 1928, reportedly after friction between the children and the elderly residents, though Wikipedia flags that explanation as unsourced. Pacific University’s student paper also collected newer accounts, including a radio a bartender said turned itself on late at night and a guest who said something grabbed her ankle.

Knocking in the walls

Not every sound at the Grand Lodge is a ghost, and McMenamins says so. Its guest information warns that the knocking you may hear in the walls at night is the radiator, “not a ghost.”

It is a nice reminder for anyone who stays here hoping for a story. Old steam heating makes plenty of noise, and part of the fun is deciding which sounds you cannot explain.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 232: A second-floor room on the main hallway. Tualatin Valley’s tourism site suggests it because the Lavender Lady is said to linger outside its door, and guests report lavender scent in this hall.
• Third Floor Guestrooms: All with private baths and named after literary works, a nod to the Lavender Lady’s books. The top floor of the old home.
• Main Floor Guestrooms: Most now have attached baths after an upgrade. Good for an easy stay in the historic building.
• Foundation Guestrooms: Music-themed rooms near Bob’s Bar on the lowest level. Livelier and further from the stories.
• Bunk rooms and shared-bath rooms: The cheapest way to stay, and a shared bath means walking the hallways at night.

History of McMenamins Grand Lodge

Oregon’s Masons began planning a home for members and their families in 1917. Construction started in Forest Grove in 1920, at an estimated cost of $245,000, and the first resident moved in in 1922. The Masonic and Eastern Star Home took in aging Masons and Eastern Star members who needed care.

In 1926 a Children’s Cottage was built on the grounds for the orphans of Masons. It closed around 1928; the commonly told reason is conflict between the children and the elderly residents. The home went through hard times in the 1930s, and the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 badly damaged its roof.

By the late 1990s the Masons were building new, modern facilities, and in 1999 they moved out. McMenamins became the building’s custodian that year and began renovations in the fall. Grand Lodge opened on March 1, 2000, with 77 rooms; in 2017 McMenamins added 22 more and upgraded 23, bringing it to 90.

The old doctor’s office is now a bar with pool tables, and the grounds host the summer Concerts in the Grove series, which began in 2002. McMenamins offers a history and art tour and a printed walking guide to the building’s past, which is the best way to see how much of the Masonic home survives.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Ask for Room 232 or another second-floor room on the main hallway, where the Lavender Lady and her lavender scent are most often reported.
• The soaking pool is free for overnight guests and costs $5 for day visitors.
• Pick up the walking guide or join the history and art tour to find the Masonic home’s original features.
• Check which bars and restaurants are open before you go; McMenamins lists some as closed on certain days.
• Pets are allowed for $30 per pet, per day. Tell the front desk before you arrive.
• Forest Grove is about 40 minutes west of Portland, so it pairs well with a day in the Willamette Valley wine country.

More haunted hotels nearby

• McMenamins Hotel Oregon, McMinnville: room 203 and the rooftop bar, about 40 minutes south
• The Benson Hotel, Portland: Simon Benson on the grand staircase
• McMenamins Edgefield, Troutdale: the old county poor farm east of Portland
• Haunted places in Portland: more of the area’s ghost stories
• Haunted hotels in Oregon
• Haunted hotels in Portland

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• McMenamins: Grand Lodge
• Wikipedia: The Grand Lodge Hotel
• Tualatin Valley: Halloween tricks and treats (2024)
• The Pacific Index: A century-plus old, and plenty of ghosts rattling around (2023)
• That Oregon Life: McMenamins Grand Lodge, Masonic old folks home now a haunted hotel
• Willamette Week: McMenamins' most haunted bars host ghost tours (2025)
• OPB via JPR: Oregon's most haunted places (2014)

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