The Heritage Trail Festival Report!

The Sherwood Historical Society led visitors along the Sherwood Heritage Trail once again this year. The trail began at Morback House, which is by Veterans Park on the corner of First and Main in Sherwood. Small group tours were taken Saturday and Sunday twice daily at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM. On Saturday, the event coincided with the Sherwood Arts Festival.

The tour covered the nine blocks of the original town plat, plus a piece of Stella Olsen Park. The highlights of the tour were the Covered Wagon era (Third Street was part of the Oregon Trail), the Railroad era (Railroad Street is aligned with Oregon's most historically significant railroad), and the Model-T era (First Street featured one of Oregon's largest Ford dealerships). While they were discussing anecdotes from each of these time zones, each tour group was distracted by a conflict that was actually reported in history books or in Turn of the 19th Century newspapers. The Womens Christian Temperance Union attempted to close down a saloon, a gunfight broke out on Railroad Avenue, and a town father was accosted by a bank robber. Safe and unharmed the tour group wound up at Stella Olsen Park, which lies just outside of Old Sherwood Town. There they met a peddler, a frontiersman, and an unfortunate soul named Lilly Morgan who lost her spouse on the Oregon Trail and simply didn't know what she was going to do.

Visitors are often amazed by the fact that all this excitement happened within a town no larger than nine blocks in size. More delightful still is the discovery that Sherwood's story is America's story. No matter where you lived before you came to Sherwood or where you may move to in the future, the story of Sherwood Oregon is about you. Call 503-625-1236 for a recorded message about future Sherwood Historical society events.