Pe Ell is a former lumber town in Lewis County, Washington. It is on the Chehalis River. Heading downriver from town, the river flows north, then, via amazing twists and crooks, east to the city of Chehalis, then back west towards Grays Harbor.
Main Street is, well, the main street. It is also Route 6, which takes you from Chehalis to Raymond. Most drivers just zip on through town. If you are a bicyclist, you can ride on the Willapa Hills Trail from Chehalis to Pe Ell. West of Pe Ell, the trail has not been fully developed yet.
Let's take a quick tour of Main Street.
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| Traditional commercial buildings on Main Street at Sixth Ave. |
This big wood building was once been a hotel or boarding house. One Facebook post noted that a bank once occupied part of the building. It has a modern metal roof, so the owners are taking care of their historic property.
The Pub and Post Office are functioning, but what might have been a garage or car showroom to the left is boarded up.
The liquor/grocery store is at the corner on Route 6 where you turn right to head west towards Raymond. The overhead traffic signal is the only one in town.
The former gas station is across the street from the grocery/liquor store. The motoring machinery on display must change occasionally. The Willapa Hills Trail is behind the fence in the lower picture.
I took most of these photographs on January 14, 2026 on Kodak Portra 160 film. The light was soft and overcast, so colors are muted. I used my Zeiss Ikon ZM camera with a 1950 Leitz 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. This was my dad's Summitar lens, and has been with us around the world. With a genuine Leitz LTM-M adapter, it mounts and focuses perfectly on the modern M-mount body. It is impressive optical quality for a ƒ/2 lens computed in the late 1930s. This unit has perfect coating, but I still use a hood to prevent flare.
Later I can show some black and white frames from southwest Washington, including more in Pe Ell.
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