We just posted four articles to our blog, (expertprops.com/blog) from major publications—all focused on Southern Oregon. One article has Ashland listed, and another has Jacksonville listed, as the top towns in the US to visit. The other two both talk about our wine industry—one noting the awards we received […]
As a seller, nothing is more frustrating than having your property sit on the market without selling while other homes around yours proudly display a “Sold” sign! Here are several reasons homes don’t sell, and how to go about addressing this issue.
Price—Pricing your home properly from the start […]
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 […]
Marker Cleaning Workshops will resume on Saturday, April 15 and then on June 17, and on the third Saturday of each month through Saturday, September 16. Workshops are not held in May as volunteers are busy preparing the Cemetery grounds for the Memorial Day holiday weekend activities. The marker cleaning series of workshops is a […]
When the City of Jacksonville and the Oregon Department of Transportation uncovered a pile of horseshoes while transplanting a tree along C Street in 2010, they unexpectedly uncovered the remains of one of the town’s earliest blacksmith shops. Subsequent excavations by the Southern Oregon Laboratory of Anthropology (SOULA) revealed a variety […]
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 […]
“The most precious factor in the creative life of an artist in any medium is freedom. Totalitarian, political and national leaders who seek to control or deprive the artist can strangle their work and cripple a culture. Throughout history, artists have used their creativity in times of social and political upheaval to provide a balance […]
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, […]
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, […]
*March 4th, 10:00am, Natural Pruning-—Everything does not need to be ‘mushroomed’ when pruning. Join Eric, our expert pruner, for this informative class on achieving a natural, healthy look with your shrubs and small trees. Let your plants natural beauty shine through! Landscapers: this class qualifies for 2 hours of CEH credit. Registration fee $15. 10% […]
Oh, but if we could hear what the stones have to tell us. So often we walk along the trails admiring the flora and fauna, ignoring the living rock beneath our feet. Sub-consciously we might appreciate the rock cycle and the millennia needed to morph sandstone […]
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. […]
I have been working with SOULA on the archaeology of my historic home and property for more than a decade. Each time I need to renovate, update, or improve the home and grounds, artifacts turn-up. Evidence of Euro-American and Chinese presence are common on the property, but previous to these finds, […]
“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter, an art which might be for every mentality, every worker, be he business man or writer, like an appeasing influence, like a mental soother, something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue.” […]
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 […]
I am pleased to report that 2016 was not only another successful year for our organization, but a very busy one, as well. Our Pioneer Cemetery continues to attract local visitors from all over the Pacific Northwest, as well as from all over the United States […]
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. […]
I just returned from a wonderful month in Southern China’s Guangdong Province—the ancestral homeland of the Overseas Chinese. While there, I was able to spend time in the home villages of the thousands of individuals and families that came to the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth century to […]
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 […]
Happy New Year!
Well, last month’s record-breaking winter storm Helena sure did put a stick in the spokes of our January reception! We hope you and everyone you love made it through the storm safely, and that you were able to attend our informal reception the following weekend.
Naked Art 2017: No Mats ~ No Frames ~ […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
With Appreciation and Gratitude—The Madrone Theatre Company and the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery would like to sincerely thank everyone who attended our October fundraiser, Spoon River Anthology. Your support for our organization, our Pioneer Cemetery and the generous and dedicated cast was sincerely appreciated. The turnout for this unique and special production of Edgar […]
“Have you found any gold yet?” That is one of the most common questions archaeologists get, particularly when working in a gold rush era mecca like Jacksonville, Oregon. While I usually say no—and silently contemplate turning it into a teaching moment regarding how the real “gold” is the information we […]
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 […]