Help keep history alive!
Come and celebrate with us.
Jackson County Heritage Association
Special Events Schedule
May, 2026 - September, 2026
Historic Jacksonville - Beginning May 30, you will again be able to stretch your legs in the comfort of morning temperatures while learning a little Jacksonville, Oregon history! Every Saturday through September 5, Historic Jacksonville, inc. will be offering 1-hour guided “Walk through History” tours that transport guests back to the late 1800s when Jacksonville was the hub of Southern Oregon. They will hear 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.
Tours leave at 10 a.m. from Jacksonville’s New City Hall at 206 North 5th Street and cover about 1 mile with multiple stops. This great combination of education, exercise, and entertainment is FREE, but donations are always welcomed—all monies go towards maintaining and preserving historic buildings seen on the tour. For more information visit https://www.historicjacksonville.org/walk-through-history/ or by contacting [email protected] or calling 541-245-3650.
June, 2026 - October, 2026
Historic Jacksonville - June 12th - Jacksonville’s “ghoulies, and ghosties, and long-legged beasties” are back — not to mention stories of brothels and epidemics and hangings and arson and saloons and haunted houses! We would appreciate your letting your audience know that they can again learn about the ghosts that still linger in Jacksonville’s historic district while learning a little history about the buildings, their occupants, and life in a gold rush town. Historic Jacksonville Inc.’s guided Haunted History walking tours will again be offered on the 2nd Friday of each month in June, July. and August, with special September and October tours.
Tours leave from the Jacksonville Visitors Center at the corner of North Oregon and C streets and last about 1 hour. Guests can choose from 2 different tours each night. The Courthouse route features brothels, epidemics, and hangings. The Britt Hill tours highlight murder, arson, saloons, and Oregon’s oldest Chinatown. And both tours have lots of haunted houses! Tours are $10 per person and reservations are required. Tour starting times vary by month. Times, information, and tickets are available at www.historicjacksonville.org/haunted-history-tours/.
July, 2026
Windows In Time - July 1 and 8 - Past Independence Day Celebrations, From 1976 Back to 1876, 18+ YRS
In honor of our nation's 250th birthday, this talk will review the events, personalities, and context of Jackson County's past American Independence celebrations. Some surprises are in store.
Presenter Jeff LaLande has been a resident of the Rogue Valley since 1969. He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and later received his M.A. in archaeology from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Oregon. He had a 30-year career with the U.S. Forest Service as an archaeologist and historian, and has published articles and several books on regional history.
July 1, at the Medford Library, and July 8 at the Ashland Library, starting promptly at noon both days.
Woodville Museum - July 3rd - 10:00AM to 2:00PM Woodville Museum 40th Anniversary Party.
Southern Oregon Historical Society - July 11th. 80th Anniversary BBQ & America’s 250th Anniversary Celebration July 11 * 11am-3pm (Lunch served at Noon) Tickets: Adults/$20 * Children 12 & Under/$10
Purchase Tickets online at https://sohs.org/bbq/ SOHS Hanley Farm * 1053 Hanley Road * Central Point, Oregon
Join the Southern Oregon Historical Society as we celebrate two extraordinary milestones: SOHS 80th Anniversary and America’s 250th Anniversary. Join in the festivities! Enjoy a delicious barbecue, live music by the local Old Time
Fiddlers, tours of the Hanley House, and the opportunity to experience our new Historical Interpretive Center.
We’ll also unveil new monument signs as we celebrate Southern Oregon’s rich heritage and our nation’s history.
Historic Jacksonville - July 18th—Americans were on the move during the second half of the 19th Century! In the span of 50 years, transportation options advanced from horseback, wagon or buggy, stagecoach, and sailing ship, to railroad, steamship and automobile. And Jacksonville’s pioneer Beekman family experienced them all! View antique cars and learn about the rapid changes in transportation during the late 1800s when the Rogue Valley A’s join Historic Jacksonville, Inc. for “Travel in the Victorian Age” from 12n to 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 18, at Jacksonville’s historic Cornelius C. Beekman House.
Like many ambitious men, Cornelius Beekman was lured west by the promise of gold, sailing in steerage from New York to Panama in 1850, crossing the Isthmus by canoe and mule train, and then finding passage on a San Francisco bound ship. He came to Jacksonville in 1853 as an express rider carrying gold, papers, and mail over the Siskiyous to Yreka three times a week on horseback. From that humble beginning, he became one of Jacksonville’s wealthiest pioneers, amassing a business empire that included banking, insurance, mining, and real estate interests. He was also a public servant and philanthropist and was named one of the 100 most influential Oregonians of the 19th century.
As was typical of upper class Victorians of wealth and prominence, Beekman family members traveled the West and East Coasts, visited Canada and Alaska, criss-crossed the country, and toured Europe. Beekman’s 1870s home, located at 470 E. California Street in Jacksonville, remains completely furnished with family artifacts, many of them souvenirs from the family’s frequent travels.
One-hour house tours will be offered every 20 minutes with costumed docents sharing information about the Beekmans’ many trips, the modes of transportation available to them, and how advances in transportation impacted family life and life in Jacksonville. Vintage vehicles will be displayed on the lawn courtesy of the Rogue Valley Model A Club. House tours are $10; tour size is capped, and reservations are encouraged. Proceeds benefit local historic preservation efforts. Additional information and reservations are available at https://historicjacksonville.org/victorian-theme-tours/.
Travel in the Victorian Age is one in a series of 2025 Victorian themed events at the 1870s Beekman House Museum that focus on different aspects of life in the late 1800s as viewed through the lens of Jacksonville and its most prominent pioneer family. Upcoming topics include Victorian Hobbies & Crafts (August 15), Victorian Medical Practices (September 19 & 20), and Victorian Mourning Customs (October 3 & 4 and October 10 & 11).
Southern Oregon Historical Society - Sunday, July 19, the Southern Oregon Historic Society’s Hanley Farm will be a featured stop on the 2026 Rogue Valley Farm Tour, a day-long opportunity to visit 20 different farms and ranches, participate in tastings and tours, purchase local goods, and learn about our local food system.
Every 15 to 20 minutes between 10am and 3pm, SOHS Hanley Farm will be offering the opportunity to travel the “Road to Yesterday,” and experience the sights, smells, and sounds of 19th century farm life. Visitors will meet members of the Hanley family—daughter Alice, Grandpa John, Mother Martha, Mr. Beeswax, and Mr. Michael Hanley the best-known stockman in the Rogue Valley.
SOHS Hanley Farm is located at 1053 Hanley Road in Central Point (just outside of Jacksonville). There is no charge for admission, and children are invited to wear our period hats and bonnets to enhance their adventure.
“Road to Yesterday” reenactments evoke life on the farm in 1876, one year after the new house was completed. The corrals are full of animals and members of the Hanley Family and friends are busy. Women are doing the washing, children are toting water, hired hands are feeding the animals, and the men are readying the big freight wagon to go to “Californy.”
The “Road to Yesterday” leads to a world very different from our own. Visitors will hear accents reflecting families rooted in Missouri, Virginia, and southern Ohio. They will encounter the past in the lyrics and rhythm of banjo music of the era, and in the taste of pioneer flat bread. They will learn how Mr. Hanley trained and talked to his mules. Visitors touring the house can imagine the smell of new paint and fresh plaster.
In 1876, the new Hanley home was a showpiece of Jackson County. Michael Hanley was a prominent farmer and rancher with extensive holdings where he raised oats, alfalfa, hay and livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and mules). A souvenir of these days is a featured part of the Hanley Farm tour—a beautiful, high-wheeled Mitchell wagon, a design dating to 1872, fully restored and donated to the Southern Oregon Historical Society by Michael Hanley IV.
And for additional information about this and other SOHS Hanley Farm summer events, please contact Larry Mullaly at [email protected] or 541-531-1436. More information is also available at https://sohs.org/events/.
August, 2026
Southern Oregon Historical Society - August 1st - Cars through history classic car show at Hanley Farm For more information contact Gretchen Hamilton at 541-944-3751.
September, 2026
October, 2026
The members of the Jackson County Heritage Association are dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of Jackson County for the future. The Association members participate in, plan and assist with various community events and activities: honoring veterans, school programs, off-site speakers, demonstrations, presentations, senior programs and parades to name a few.
Help keep our history alive.