Jacksonville

Jacksonville is a gold-rush town of about 3,000 in southern Oregon's Jackson County that history preserved by accident. Gold found in 1851 made it the region's first boomtown and county seat, home to Oregon's first Chinatown; then the railroad bypassed it in 1884, growth drained away to Medford five miles east, and the town simply stopped changing. The result is a National Historic Landmark district of more than a hundred unaltered 1850s and 1860s buildings, now filled with restaurants, tasting rooms and inns rather than assayers and saloons. The whole town was designated in 1966, among the first such districts in the country, and its rules have kept the streetscape remarkably intact ever since.

California Street, the main street, is the sight: brick blocks, the old Jackson County Courthouse, and house museums like the 1873 Beekman House, where costumed tours cover the banker who ran the town's finances. The hillside Jacksonville Cemetery, from 1859, spreads above town in lodge and church sections. Behind downtown, the Jacksonville Woodlands hide miles of shaded trails, and the Britt Park grounds climb to the open-air pavilion of the Britt Festival. Peter Britt himself was the valley's first great promoter, a Swiss photographer whose estate hosted the first festival concerts in 1963. The Beekman Bank, billed as the oldest bank building in the Pacific Northwest, still stands on California Street with its original fittings. The Applegate Valley wine country begins a few minutes west on Highway 238.

The dining scene is the strongest in the valley for a town this size: chef-led restaurants on California Street, coffee and bakeries — GoodBean has roasted on the main street since 1990 — and tasting rooms pouring Applegate and Rogue Valley wines, several made minutes away. Summer evenings belong to Britt concerts, when the town fills before shows on the hill. Otherwise nightlife is wine bars and dinner — Medford, next door, has the rest.

Stay in the historic inns and B&Bs on California Street and the streets behind it, led by the Jacksonville Inn, or in vacation cottages on the town's quiet edges; Medford's motels are the fallback. Rogue Valley International Airport is about 20 minutes away in Medford, Rogue Valley Transit buses link Jacksonville with Medford, and the whole town is an easy walk once you arrive. A trolley runs narrated tours in season. Hikers can walk from California Street straight into the Woodlands trail network, and rates drop once Britt season ends — the local-quiet weeks many regulars consider the best time to come.

May through October is the season, dry and warm, with the Britt Festival running June through September and the Applegate in full leaf. Fall color in the woodlands and crush season at the valley wineries give October a following of its own. Victorian Christmas decorates the town in December, and the Chinese New Year celebration in February honors the town's first Chinatown. Winters are mild and wet by Oregon standards. One to two days fits, more if Britt and wine touring stack up.

On the road, Jacksonville is the heritage detour off I-5 at Medford: five miles west on Highway 238, at the mouth of the Applegate Valley drive toward Grants Pass. It pairs with Ashland's theaters 25 minutes south and sits on the way to the Oregon Caves and, via Medford, Crater Lake.