In my years as Mayor, the two questions I get most often are, “Will we have a museum again?” and “What are the chances of having a live theater in town?” In case you didn’t know, Jacksonville once had a permanent melodrama theater in the old Pioneer […]
Although hotel proprietress Jeanne DeRoboam Laugier Guilfoyle Holt (see Pioneer Profiles, March 2017) was the most prominent of the DeRoboams to settle in early Jacksonville, her brother, Jean St. Luc DeRoboam, also left his mark on the town.
Jean St. Luc DeRoboam was born in France in 1829, but potentially conflicting stories […]
April is a special month for the Southern Oregon Historical Society and Hanley Farm. SOHS is proud to be the Grand Marshal for the 64th Annual Pear Blossom Parade, April 8. To celebrate the Pear Blossom Festival, Pear Blossom Posters for the past ten years, created by artist Debby Elder, are on display in the […]
Hollywood’s movie business is exactly that: a business, dedicated to the creation of art that (hopefully) will bring in enough money to cover the cast, crew, and dozens of others whose names you read in the end credits, while still garnering a sizable bottom line for the studios. The studios, […]
It is always tough for me to decide what to write about in Britt’s April column. You see, the problem is that I know about all of these great performers that are coming to Britt, but I am sworn to secrecy due to the timing of our April season announcement and the Jacksonville Reviews’ publishing […]
Family: Rutacea
Origin: Italy, Reggio de Calabria has the best due to their soil and climate, Morocco, Guinea, Southern France and Côte d’Ivoire, Turkey (for making marmalade).
Plant Description: A small Tree that blossoms during the winter and has fragrant fruit the size of an orange and the color of […]
Family: Asteraceae
Origin: Germany, England, Hungary, France, (all over Europe) Egypt, South America, North America, Asia, India
Plant Description: An annual herb, Matricaria recutita has a branched, erect and smooth stem with daisy white flowers. Plants grow to a height of 6 to 24 inches. Blooms in early to midsummer and […]
When you need to make an important life decision, how do you know if the feeling in the pit of your stomach is an emotional response that comes from fear of the unknown, or if it’s your intuition kicking-in to help you avoid a painful and/or expensive mistake. Our emotions are […]
A few years ago I spent many weeks overtaken by pain, the result of a bike accident. The pain in my neck and shoulder was intense. I couldn’t find a peaceful placement of the head to relieve it. Sleep nearly disappeared. The simple act of being alive meant that I was […]
In the 1860’s, German immigrants settled along the Mississippi River in a town called Red Wing, Minnesota. Fortune smiled on them, as they were skilled potters and the clay soil was perfect for producing stoneware crocks, jugs, pottery for food storage, and other household items.
At first I thought they were flies. Tiny, black, wings. Two of them I found legs-up in the windowsill. They were swept away with nary a thought. Until I saw another one on the floor. The dustbuster was poised to devour this third creature when something caught my eye. Movement. […]
With wet weather having soaked Southern Oregon for a couple of months now, the topic of proper drainage should be on everyone’s mind. Many of my neighbors in Jacksonville ended-up buying sump pumps and extra hoses, in an effort to keep way too much rain water at […]
“Everything in the forest has its season. Where one thing falls, another grows.
Maybe not what was there before, but something new and wonderful all the same.”
~Felix Salten, Bambi, A Life in the Woods, 1923
Twenty years before Walt Disney produced what has become a classic animated film, […]
Being a real estate broker is not easy. I will be the first to admit, before I became a broker, I didn’t have a real grasp of how much behind-the-scenes work good brokers really do. And considering how brokers are depicted on some reality TV shows, it’s understandable. […]
Did you wake up angry this morning? A great many people do, judging by the news reports every day. I’ve never seen so many people this angry since Pearl Harbor was bombed, when I was twelve-years-old. By then I knew all the bad words children weren’t supposed […]
160 years ago, Michael Hanley purchased what is now known as Hanley Farm. Originally the farm was called “The Willows,” a name taken from a weeping willow planted in the 1860s, a tree that has “…toppled twice, in 1940 and again in 1986.” But, “…in each instance it regenerated […]
The small, relatively plain, headstone in the Catholic section of the Jacksonville Cemetery simply reads Jane Holt—an ironic “grand finale” for Madame Jeanne DeRoboam Laugier Guilfoyle Holt, one of the larger-than-life characters in 19th Century Jacksonville.
Born in Bordeaux, France around 1820, some stories portray Jeanne with an aristocratic heritage. Other tales […]
According to a 2014 survey by the National Association of Realtors, 83% of people view their home as a good financial investment. Not only is their home the biggest single asset they own, it’s also filled with family memories—the average seller has lived in his house for a decade, […]
Marge Wall, the owner of Country Quilts here in Jacksonville, decided to take it a little easier this January and close on Sundays. So now, instead of operating her quilt store seven days a week, she cut back to six. And this is a woman who will turn 83 this April. […]
Recently a movie named A Dog’s Purpose flickered through the multiplexes. It hasn’t fared well. Critics across the country panned it. The New York Times’ reviewer got right to the point: “You can skip it because it’s clumsily manipulative dreck.”
We suspect that’s not the reaction the filmmakers hoped for. But […]
At your Britt Orchestra’s February 11th Valentine Gala, Music Director Teddy Abrams revealed the 2017 Season to an enthusiastic crowd of over 200 music lovers. Since beginning his tenure as Britt’s Music Director in 2013, Teddy’s programs have both delighted and challenged our audiences through a skillful blend of […]
While this is the Year of the Rooster, I’m thinking about other birds of late: ducks and swans to be precise. You might recall the story of The Ugly Duckling, in which a signet is born amongst a brood of ducklings. Being so different, he is persecuted and ostracized by his […]
I knew when I scheduled my “Sensational Seniors” interview with Tony Hess that I should allow ample time for it…I wasn’t disappointed! And while I thought I already knew quite a bit about Tony, I quickly realized that I’d just scratched the surface.
Eighty-one year old Tony Hess was born in Toledo, […]
Jadeite is striking in its beauty and durable in its functionality. Jadeite is a type of glass tableware made of Jade-green, opaque milk glass, popular in the mid-20th century. Sometimes dubbed the colorful “Pyrex of its day,” Jadeite was used for baking, food preparation, food storage, and table use.
Jadeite is […]
I eat a lot of salad, so I derive particular pleasure from growing some of the lettuces I consume. There are so many varieties to choose from: crispheads, butterheads, looseleafs and Romaines, not to mention fancy designer greens such as endive and arugula.
In fact, all of our modern lettuces (Lactuca […]
Jacksonville was bursting with magic that brisk December evening. White lights and pine swags, staples of a vintage Christmas, on each door and window beckoned passersby indoors for cozy warmth. The scent of holiday charm filled the air.
I walked into old city hall, sat, and anxiously waited to deliver my […]
I have been involved with real estate to some extent my entire life. As a child, my parents spent much of their free time at open houses, always trying to find “the worst house in the best neighborhood.” My parents would then buy that house, remodel it, and […]
When you look at home values, you get a better picture if you look at long-term trends and not short-term trends. Quarterly home prices go up and down, but yearly growth and long-term growth give you a much better picture of where the market is headed.
Home values in Jackson […]
Each New Year finds me more perplexed than usual regarding the subject matter for this column. Due to my degree in history, I am tempted to write something history-related, but current events usually take precedence. So here I am, reminiscing about a world long passed… the decades […]
Lured by gold and free land in the 1850s, David Clinton and Archibald Welton were the first settlers to establish a farm at the Hanley site. In 1857 Michael Hanley purchased the 636 acre ranch from Clinton and Welton, and so began the remarkable journey of the Hanley family. […]
Although a close to record snow fall on January 3, 2017, had local residents digging out from under up to 20 inches of the white stuff, that “storm of the century” may not compare to some of the snows experienced in Southern Oregon before formal record keeping began. One winter in […]
La La Land, a cinematic love letter to classic movie musicals, just won a bunch of Golden Globe Awards. Seven, in fact—the same number it was nominated for. You can expect it to win a bunch of Oscars, too. As well it should.
But not for the reasons you’d think. As […]
As we enter the New Year, Britt would like to welcome Jacksonville’s newest City Council member, Steve Casaleggio. Based on our experience, the Council exhibits a strong commitment to working with citizens toward the shared vision of providing the best possible community for residents and visitors alike. They understand […]
It’s time for you to “Get Real” about being part of the healing solution in your life. We can all complain about what is wrong and though this awareness is an important part of change, we need to take actions that can move us towards healing. What are you contributing to the […]
There’s a reason why politics and religion are taboo topics at dinner parties. We can creatively design filters to guard the truth about what we really think but these days all it takes to pre-judge is a slip of the tongue about who we voted for in the last election. […]
MEDFORD, OR — Britt Music & Arts Festival is excited to be the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which will be used to produce and perform a wheelchair-based dance work through a five-day educational residency.
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $30 million in […]
For this month’s column, I only needed to cross the street to interview our close neighbors and friends, Jim and Georgene Van Orsow, another senior couple living a rich and varied life here in Jacksonville. Jim was born in Fairbault, Minnesota but moved to Oregon at age 2, so considers […]
Here’s a holiday pop quiz:
Do you remember what you received for Christmas last year?
Do you remember what you gave?
Me either. Sad, ain’t it? All the getting and spending and, by and large, no one remembers any of it two weeks later. What I remember about last Christmas (and every Christmas) […]
The holidays are always a busy, stressful time, but this year we have the added political discourse between friends and family. This can make it challenging to remember “good will to all.” As we reach the end of the year, we are facing a new world full of uncertainty. The […]
The “center” of every home is typically the kitchen, in large part because that’s where the hub of activity is. Kitchen items from the depression era and older are the items that collectors are generally most interested in. They evoke a feeling of nostalgia for comfort, warmth and functionality […]
“At Christmas, I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May’s newfangled mirth; But like each thing that in season grows.”
– William Shakespeare, “Love’s Labor Lost,” 1598
Oh, Willy, lighten up! Growing flowering plants in winter keeps gardeners gardening and brightens up our […]
In October, two girlfriends swept me away to a swank resort in Arizona for an early milestone (more like mileboulder) birthday celebration. I felt loved and pampered. Miravel offers top-notch service with fine accommodations and accoutrements tending to all of life’s comforts. Evening landscapes are replete with stunning high-desert […]
Purchasing property is one of the biggest decisions most people will ever make, and your real estate broker is essential to making it happen. But it takes a team of professionals who work with your real estate broker, and a good Realtor will have an established team […]
I had to skip a couple articles; my apologies. Along with my very sick wife needing extended out of town medical care, we had an unexpected funeral to attend for her beloved brother and, oh yes, there’s that nasty business of being sued for copyright infringement.
Apparently, a Google […]
Now that the leaves are falling, you know snow and freezing temperatures will follow.Here are 9 things to get done before winter to prevent costly home repairs.
Another Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. For me, this one was special because I owe so very many people a big “thank you” for their support and their vote in this past election. What was especially heart-warming were the letters to the editor of the […]
With a Supreme Court position and numerous judgeships around the country sitting vacant waiting for U.S. Senate approval of Presidential appointees, this month’s profile focuses on local lawyer, District Judge, and Oregon Supreme Court Justice Paine Page Prim.
Prim’s beginnings were inauspicious. He was born in Wilson County, Tennessee, on May […]
“Pressure pushing down on me, pressing down on you…” ~Queen/David Bowie
Whew! Well, that’s over. We finally can relax, knowing that the incessant pressure exerted by an endless flow of shrill television commercials, flyers cluttering our mailboxes, competing yard adornments, and snarling voices has come to an end. Few of us […]
This year Britt enjoyed an enthusiastic response to the Crater Lake Project, the Britt Orchestra Season and our Popular Music line-up. Out of 45 concerts performed on Britt’s main stage and in the Performance Garden, overall attendance was over 64,000, with an average attendance of […]
He looked like something out of the cartoons, a dazzling green blubbery caricature of himself. Given his lazy, lumbering gait, this little guy was in no hurry to get to his destination.
I inspected him closely, intrigued by his suction cup feet, the wrinkles in the fern-green folds of his skin, […]