JACKSONVILLE, OR—Jacksonville’s “Walk through History” tours are back! At 10 a.m. every Saturday from May 28th through September 3rd, Historic Jacksonville, Inc. will be offering 1-hour guided walks through Jacksonville’s National Historic Landmark District. Participants visit government and commercial buildings, fraternal lodges, and homes that capture the stories of the people who transformed a gold rush town into Southern Oregon’s 19th Century social, governmental, and commercial hub. They learn how gambling money built a church; how the Civil War ended a successful mercantile partnership; how a saloon housed the county’s first museum; how fire reshaped the town; and how a railroad both destroyed the town and preserved it.
Walking tours leave from Jacksonville’s New City Hall (the historic “Courthouse Square”) on North 5th Street between West C and D streets and cover about one mile with multiple stops. Tours are FREE but donations are encouraged! All monies go towards the preservation and maintenance of Jacksonville’s historic buildings.
For individuals who prefer not to “stretch their legs,” Historic Jacksonville’s website (https://www.historicjacksonville.org) offers numerous ways to explore Jacksonville virtually. These include multiple blogs about the town and its settlers along with three video tours that introduce viewers to Jacksonville’s Historic Landmark District, its Historic Homes, and its Pioneer Cemetery.
Historic Jacksonville, Inc. invites you to forget the “names, dates, places, and battles” version of history you may have been taught in school. HJI’s live and virtual tours are about “real history”—people and their stories. They are about life!
Additional information on “Walk through History” and other Historic Jacksonville, Inc. tours is available at 541-245-3650; info@historicjacksonville.org; and www.historicjacksonville.org.