Day 40: Jacksonville, OR

We took a drive to historic Jacksonville, Oregon on Wednesday. The scenery was gorgeous. As we drew closer to town we passed a couple of Bed and Breakfasts that were as they were originally built in the mid-1800's as grand mansions. Unfortunately we did not stop to snap pictures because we thought we would travel back the same road on which we came into town, but we didn't. Here is one of the homes with a lovely garden in Jacksonville!
We actually started our adventure a few miles on the other side of town at a beautiful winery, the Valley View Winery. This is the vineyard. Don't you love all the roses? Roses are everywhere here in Oregon! (I'll have to get some great pics and post them here for you to see!)

Valley View Winery claims to be one of Oregon's oldest wineries, established in 1976.
We liked both of their dessert wines, Port 2006 and Viognier Late Harvest 2006. They are a bit pricier than what we are used to in North Carolina - at least more than our favorite the Duplin Wines, so we didn't purchase any. I'm standing in front of the wine tasting building which was absolutely gorgeous both inside and out!

Then we went back to Jacksonville, by-passing 4 other wineries or tasting rooms on the Applegate Trail, but they basically looked like someone's home, no where near as nice as the Valley View.

From the information we picked up in town, we learned that Jacksonville was started in 1851 with the discovery of gold, but unlike many other gold rush towns this little hub did not become a ghost town when the gold ran out, it became a "well-known trade center." The buildings still have an old west flavor to them. We strolled down the sidewalk and saw some pretty interesting window fronts.

Oregon strongly advocates recycling and we were impressed by this flip-flop mat. It is made of cut up flip flops wired together to form a mat/rug. It was pretty cool!Here is another gorgeous garden.

Here are some facts as listed in the historic landmark walking map:

• Jacksonville sits at the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains
• Peter Britt, Oregon's first photographer arrived in Jacksonville in 1852. The Britt name is on several buildings in town and there is a festival there in the park called the Britt Music Festival
• Other historic names (and houses) that helped create Jacksonville are Nunan, Beekman, Dowell, Booker, Cameron, Keegan, Vrooman, Jacobs, Loran, Hayes, Kubli, Karewski, Kahler, Mueller, Kennedy, Moore, Reames, and Wilson.
• Jacksonville was bypassed as the location for the railroad to go through so Medford, the town about 30 minutes away, was born in 1886.
• During the depression, folks in Jacksonville dug tunnels under the city and mined the gold was still there.
• In the 1960's the US Bank restored the US Hotel in town which revitalized the town
• Jacksonville is now a National Historic District

This well was on the side walk on the corner. It was there for the public to use as they strolled the streets back in the 1800's, a 19th century water fountain! And for a more common "watering hole" from the 1800's:

Table Rock Billiard Saloon originally built in 1859!