FROM JACKSONVILLE, OREGON

(click on center thumbnail to see map)

Historic Jacksonville: The Town That Refuses to Die

(click on thumbnails to enlarge)

Wild Turkeys, Bears, Deer Still Roam Around

JACKSONVILLE, Oregon, May 29, 2007 - I spent the whole day today in the Medford area, ending up at the historic Jacksonville Inn in historic Jacksonville for an overnight stay (right thumbnail).  Most homes in the center of this town that was one's the center of the Gold Rush hubbub date back to the middle or late 19th century.  Most have names on their front lawns of the families that originally lived there (like the one in left thumbnail, that's also serves as a 'bed & breakfast' inn today.  

But the butcher shop, such as the one that originally dates back to 1854, is no longer there.  A clothing store now occupies these premises.

All of these homes and buildings are protected as National Historic Monuments.  This tiny town has more history per square mile than most bigger American cities that were established at about the same time.  Here's the main street...

And here are some more of Jacksonville's historic homes and buildings...

The leftmost thumbnail is of the Jacksonville Museum.  Next to it is St. Joseph's catholic church that dates back to 1860.  There are several other churches of other denominations that are just as old.  Second from the right is another historic home that looks as if were designed by a Mediterranean architect.  Yet amid all this history there are signs of modernity.  No, I did not see any Starbucks.  But there is a yoga studio (rightmost thumbnail), also in a historic setting, of course.  Can you just picture women in their Victorian dresses who used to live in that building doing yoga?  :-)

Yet this is still very much a rural community.  Local residents have told me that they are occasionally visited by black bears, deer (of which I also saw one), and a host of other wild life, including wild turkeys, like the ones above.  But don't look for this flock of wild turkeys to end up on anyone's table at Thanksgiving.  They are as free as a bird.  Oops... they are birds already.  But rarely seen free anymore.  :-)

Still, when the night falls, there's always the old Stagecoach Saloon in which to quench your thirst for history and other things.  I could not help but wonder how many tales those ornate ceiling tiles could tell about gunfights, working women, card games and other types of entertainment that went with the Gold Rush in the Wild West?

And this is what the Stagecoach Saloon and the Main Street looked like the following morning.  The saloon was closed, as you might expect. Until its customers get over the hangovers.  :-)

The Town That Refuses to Die

JACKSONVILLE, May 30 - As I was thinking about this old town last night, I realized I was witnessing here an exception to the general rule in rural America.  There is no evidence of "Wal-Martization" here, even though there are Wal-Mart's all around.  Having seen the decay or even destruction of so many small towns in this country, which most people seem to blame on Wal-Mart's of this world, it was refreshing to see a town that refuses to die.  Now in its 167th year, Jacksonville is displaying an amazing vitality in the face of the modern world onslaught.  And it is doing it by changing and adapting to the new world.

Take the historic Jacksonville Inn, for example, the 120-year old hotel and which I am staying.  You're getting this message and the photos via a wireless connection to the Internet which I have in my own room (left and right thumbnails).  That's something I've had problems with in many bigger cities in the past.

As I was having dinner last night at a lovely outdoor patio of my hotel (gourmet food, too!), a strong smell of roasted coffee was wafting all over downtown Jacksonville.  The waiter told that that was coming from a local coffee shop that does its own beans.  "They also supply coffee to us; you'll have it tomorrow at breakfast," he said.

I did.  And it was good coffee.  So I walked over this morning to find the actual "Good Bean" coffee shop (left thumbnail) located in a charmingly renovated former "Table Rock Billiard Saloon" (right thumbnail).  Inside, several customers were working on their laptops using the wireless connection.  The coffee shop owner also doubles as a "maintenance man" at the Jacksonville Inn after the morning rush hour at his shop is over.

No, the "Good Bean" won't be posing any threat to Starbucks any time soon.  But it, as well as the Jacksonville Inn, are good examples that entrepreneurship is not yet dead in America.  They are the reason Jacksonville may be an exception to the general rule in rural America - a town that refuses to die. 

Finally, I thought this picture of the City Hall also tells the tale.  It shows how small governments in this country used to be when people ran things.  The City Hall is the smallest and the ugliest building in downtown Jacksonville.  Now if only we could export that example to the nation's capital, huh?  :-)

The Nunan House: Built by Sears

From the ugliest to the prettiest, I've been told that this home, called The Nunan House, again, the name of the family that originally had it built in the 19th century, is "the most famous house in Jacksonville."  One reason could be its looks.  But another one is that there is a lore about this house.  Some old, some more recent, both quite interesting.

Story goes that the house was originally built from a Sears catalogue.  No kidding!  Sears apparently used to be in the do-it-yourself home building business.  So when Mr. & Mrs. Nunan saw the house they liked in the Sears catalogue, they ordered it.  And Sears shipped "the kit" to them in Jacksonville lock, stock and barrel (meaning all the components arrived in large crates).  All Mr. Noonan had to do was assemble them.  That's how "easy" home building once was.

More recently, story goes that a young couple were driving by the Nunan house.  "Oh, darling, one day, I'd like to buy this house," the woman said.  So her husband swung the car around the corner to a nearby Rays' market and bought a lottery ticket.  Within days, they were millionaires.  The ticket was worth over $7 million.  They netted $3.4 million after taxes, of which they used $2.2 million to buy that house.

As a matter of fact, while I was taking the picture, the lady of the house was outside, watering some of her flowers (the woman in red to the left of the house).

The story gives a whole new meaning to the old saw, "from your mouth to God's ears," doesn't it?  Bet the original Mr. Nunan would be surprised how many more zeros it takes these days to fill his Sears catalogue order. :-)

By the way, the home next door to the Nunan house isn't bad looking, either.  Take a look at the right thumbnail.

And that's all she wrote from Jacksonville on Days 4 & 5 on my Oregon Trail.

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