On a hillside west of the entrance to Champoeg State Heritage Area, above the banks of the Willamette River, stands the home of Robert Newell.  A central figure in Oregon statehood and first Speaker of the House, he resided at Champoeg for nineteen years beginning in 1843. His home was reconstructed by the DAR in the 1950's and has become a center for Living History activities, archives, and artifacts in the French Prairie region of the northern Willamette Valley.