I was so exited to see a library museum that was built in 1899…read more A German merchant built this home and flourished in this hellish environment. The home is preserved with original furnishings spanning the two daughters lifetimes. Pretty crazy! The museum focuses heavily on homesteading, mining and business. Its an amzing joint for most folks.

From the owner: We operate as a membership Society and concentrate on the history of Josephine County, Oregon. In…read more1960, the Josephine County Historical Society became a non-profit organization to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret local history. Our Research Library has a collection of books, manuscripts, family histories, maps, clippings and photographs. We have old newspapers on microfilm, census records, donation land claim records, cemetery information, as well as various other materials.

It was a sunny and worn Ashland morning, so Gayle and I decided to take a nice walk down to the…read moreSouthern Oregon University Campus and among other things wander through the Schneider Museum of Art. It's a relatively small space that consists of 2 large gallery spaces, plus a little bit within the entrance area, and all situated within SOU's Art School campus. There's some nice less formal displays within those buildings as well. A voluntary donation of $5 is requested at a "free will" box at the entrance to the museum. We happened upon the "Fighting Men: Golub, Voulkos, Kirby" Exhibition. Most interesting were the various comic book displays by Jack Kirby and Leon Golub's cautionary paintings that depict the violence stemming from political power gone awry. Bridging this gap are Peter Voulkos' powerful ceramic pieces. You can easily (and slowly) spend up to ~30 minutes here. I would also recommend entering and leaving the Museum on the University side, just so you can enjoy wandering around this pretty campus.

This is a small art museum on the campus of Southern Oregon University. This is a very modern and…read morecontemporary building with 4 exhibits rooms featuring different artists. It's a great stop and it doesn't matter what time of the year you visit Ashland. It is especially great on a day when it is 100 degrees F. It will definitely not break your budget to cool down while looking at some cool art because admission is free. We enjoyed looking at and comparing how each artist has their own style and that was so great for kids to understand that it's important to be yourself and that it's great that no two people or artists are the same. We came in the summer so it was very empty and parking was easy to find. I'm not sure how it is when it's school season.

Fort Klamath was established during the civil war. The US military wanted a post/base in the…read moresouth-central Oregon near Klamath Falls. The landscape is unreal. The seasons are legit. The air smells nice in the morning. Amazing tranquility for a military post. I don't know anything about the local Native Tribes (Klamath, Modoc, etc.). Unsure how violent peoples were too each other. The cemetery with only four gravesites suggest two things: 1. peace 2. massacre. I didn't see massacre so I assume everyone was relatively peaceful. The museum just showed how people lived. Maybe there were skirmishes around but i might have been too tired to fill the details. It wouldn't make sense for the military to put a fort here unless the locals were hostile. Some forts were created to take place of "Missions" for weary travelers to have shelter, security and food, but mainly to shorten the supply line or assist with (dirt) road/rail infrastructure. The fort might have been created to connect Oregon. This was no small task since it travels through Crater Lake National Park. The elevation allows Crater NP to have snowcap year round contrary to Global Warming nutbags. Or are they called Global Cooling now? I dont know. Sarcasm aside. The museum pictures indicate the majority of the old fort is gone. I can't imagine erosion or attrition taking that much of a toll since wood built structures would fare better than modern technology in this region. Either way the Fort is mostly space. The dirt lot, a two-man jail cell, a four plot cemetery of executed prisoners, and some other random things. The cemetery were individuals of the Modoc tribe (looked at my own pics) so there were some skirmishes between US military and Natives. The museum and site is free. Notable traveling things nearby: 1. Crater Lake 2. DT Klamath Falls (town) 3. DT Bend (town) 4. Mt. Shasta (kinda close) 5. Modoc Point (unmarked) 6. Upper Klamath Lake 7. Annie Falls 8. Duwee Falls 9. MuirCreek Falls 10. Clearwater Falls 11. Whitehorse Falls 12. Toketee Falls I can go on forever with the nature stuff. Contrary to Oregonians wanting to display a "clean" image, Oregon and Oregonians are frigging dirty. They don't like to keep things clean~! This might be the hippie effect. The rain allows majority of the nature spots to clean their trash down the rivers, but do be careful in more touristy spots. Do not be alarmed if you see trash, dog poo, syringes, clothing, etc. in the open. I thought the lakes and river in the valleys were dirty due to farm run off, but the free and natural hot springs or smaller waterfalls in central/east oregon is just disgusting. Ya folks can't blame the Californians for making a mess. This section is too far for Californians to venture too.

Met Todd, the main historian for the museum, at a Star Party they hosted on the grounds. Beautiful…read moredark sky area and we could see so many amazing stars and planets. Todd was very hospitable and knowledgeable. The grounds of the museum are beautiful and rich with history. Todd makes effort to share the areas history from multiple perspectives and it sounds like he and the local community have done admirable work in the last 10 years to repair the relationships with local native tribes, honoring their ancestors burial grounds at the Fort and telling their stories.

We took our homeschool group on a field trip here. Gary was a great host, explained so much and…read moreanswered all our questions. It was very interesting, a piece of history I never knew existed. Great for kids 8+ years, but even the younger ones seemed to enjoy it.

I stopped by here today. Went down to the end of the driveway and parked. There was a sign on the…read moredoor. Call Gary @ yada Yada if you would like to go inside. So we did, and he showed up in 5 or 10 min and proceeded to give us a great tour. It was an active jumper base until 1981. I'm glad the county did not bulldoze the site!

A very cute science museum really good for the young kids that don't want to be outside (in the…read morecold/rain). They have a lot of hands on activities (airplanes, rockets). A place that makes science fun is always a plus. It's smaller than some of the other kids museums I've been to but very reasonably priced.

We visited here on a rainy afternoon. We have 3 kids - ages 9, 6 and 2, and all three were…read moreentertained here. We spent about 1-2 hours here and we all had a good time.

This is definitely worth a stop. I didn't really want to go, but my daughter was interested so we…read moremade it happen. Its AWESOME and so worth the stop. The man tending the place performed an original song first for us. Displays are very high quality. The story is compelling. The price is incredibly reasonable. The story of the Applegate Trail was really something else. What a terrible year to break trail - the same year the Donner Party had such trouble. Its worth a stop. They don't allow photography indoors, so I can't share what I saw. Go see for yourself!

We saw the sign at exit 71 on the I-5 (14 miles north of Grants Pass, Oregon) for a covered bridge…read moreand decided to see this local treasure. Covered bridges are not very common in the West. As we approached the bridge, we saw a sign for this Museum, and decided to stop in. This was the highlight of today's sightseeing! We were greeted by Dennis Gaustad. This museum is clearly a labor of love by Dennis and his sister Betty. Dennis personally greeted us, and had us sit and gave us a lecture on the history of the migration along the Applegate Trail. Dennis knows his history and clearly loves sharing it with others. We were amazed by how professional all the displays were in the museum. Many of the artifacts were locally found, and were on display courtesy of this brother and sister team. One of the displays was a 8 minute film produced by Betty, and professionally acted by locals, giving a enlightening representation of local history related to the Applegate Trail migration. Dennis clearly wants to preserve the local history, and is passionate about it. Sadly, several people came in and refused to pay a modest $5-6 entrance fee and left. They missed out on a fabulous display of local history. This museum is a treasure in this region of Oregon, and I encourage anyone interested in how the West (particularly Oregon) was settled, to stop in here and bask in the history proudly displayed here. This is the very best small museum I have ever seen. A definite MUST SEE.

I keep telling grammie, I've been to a handful of children's museums and this one was probably the…read morebest! (I'm not just saying that because it was her idea and she paid too LOL) we didn't even get to go outside because they close it if it's over 100. The outside looks really fun and I know my kids would have enjoyed it as well. We had a great time exploring all the different stations. They liked the nursery and water station the best. I like how there was lots of stations and endless play for creativity to spark! We had a great time as a family spending the afternoon here. A great way to escape the heat but bring a jacket because they keep it cold! just mom and gma felt cold not the kids... Everything was clean and the staff was friendly too. They were helping clean up toys as well. It will be nice to see how this place grows!

So much fun for our 2 yo and 4 yo grandkids! We were there for 4 hours. There are so many…read moredifferent areas and activities both inside and out. The kids absolutely loved it!