In 1866, Daniel Jackson Cooper and his brother built a store in Spring Valley, and acquired the post office. They renamed the town "Zena," in honor of their wives, Melzena and Arvazena.

A sketch of the town, drawn by a Zena historian in 1961, depicts several structures: the church and it's cometary, the parsonage, blacksmith's shop, horse shed, store, the post office, a cabin, a cottage, the grist mill and the grange hall. A photo of a report card from 1892 testifies to the existence of a Zena school at one time.

It is unknown which structures and how many original houses still stand, however, the church is reportedly still holding services on Sunday, and is sometimes the site of weddings. It is known as Spring Valley Presbyterian church or Zena Church, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. According to wikipedia.org, the cemetery adjacent to the church is called "Bethel Cemetery," and local residents continue to bury their dead there. (This is interesting, as there is a nearby ghost town called Bethel.) The pioneer cemetery is said to contain approximately 100 headstones.

The article also mentions that the town is reputed to be the site of paranormal activity, drawing the attention of ghost hunting enthusiasts. It is said that visitors sometimes catch a glimpse of a silhouetted man, riding a bicycle, who then disappears. Submitted by: Kathryn Davidson

I have a correction for Zena Church near Salem, Oregon... No church services are held there, nor are any weddings of any kind. Zena church has been boarded up for years. The last time I went there was about six years ago, and it was completely locked up with windows boarded, and it looks like nobody had been in there for an extremely long time. There is supposed to be no trespassing on the property which I didn't know at the time. I did have an interesting experience while I was there. I was with a couple of friends, and they wanted to go there because they had heard that the church faces the direction in which the sun sets, but that churches are supposed to face where the sun rises and because of that, people used to hold Satan worshiping rituals there when the church was closed (I don't know if that is true). It was early evening when we went, and we were just looking at the church's exterior when I started getting this awful feeling that we needed to leave immediately. I told everyone and they attempted to get me to stay longer but I told them we needed to leave... NOW, and my urgency was convincing enough to them, so we left. We were parked across the street and down the road a little ways, and once we walked to our car and were getting in, we saw headlights in the distance. As it got closer, we saw it was a really old beat up truck and by the time it was next to our car we were taking off, but the truck slowed down and turned around to follow us. It followed us for about 10 minutes extremely closely (tailgating us at times) until finally we were getting closer to Salem and it stopped, pulled off and turned around. I'm not sure what the person wanted, but I don't think it was to tell us that there was no trespassing because they never saw us on the property. Also, there would have been no reason to follow us because we were no longer on the property. All I know is that I got a really weird feeling for no reason and if my friends and I would have still been there when that truck came by, I don't know what would have happened. Or it could have been someone wanting to tell us to stay off the property and just trying to scare us into never coming back, and I read into things way too much. Anyway, that's my story. The main point is that Zena church is closed and boarded up and that no trespassing is permitted.

Sincerely,
Marla Rasmussen

UPDATES: - Bethel Cemetery. The graveyard at Zena Church is not Bethel Cemetery. Also, assuming such information was once in Wikipedia.com, Wikipedia no longer says that. There is a Bethel Cemetery about 4 miles from Zena.
- Regarding the 100 headstones comment, there are a lot more than that at Zena. Maybe that was a reference to Bethel Cemetery.
- In regard to the church being boarded up and no services being held there. The church was operating and not boarded up when I was there in August 2014. We have a family reunion there in even numbered years and it has never been boarded up. In 2010 it was closed during part of the summer for renovations but even then it was not boarded up. I have visited at other times and the gravesites were all nicely cared for.
- In regard to the no trespassing being permitted. That is true; it is posted NO TRESPASSING. They have upgraded their fencing and gate so people such as Marla can no longer get past the gate when it is closed. They had quite a problem with vandalism. It appeared that much of that vandalism came from visitors in the night who were drawn there because they had read on the internet that the site was haunted - it isn't.
- Visiting the site: There are times during the day, especially on Sunday, when the gate is open and you may visit the site. Except for church services and special meetings, the church is normally locked. - Stephen Purvine