Sherwood Meets Tualatin

Future banjo picker gets a lesson on strumming. Saturday, the Folks paid a visit to the town with the antebellum house along the Boone family road that crosses the prehistoric river that crosses the most pristine example of the J Harlen Bretz scablands in Oregon. We mean Tualatin of course. Our two historical societies have always hit it off and Saturday was no exception. It was their harvest day, and we had to leave our Sherwood Oregon USA Onion Festival behind... but not before performing a skit to explain the history of onion farming in the Sherwood-Tualatin area, and gorging down some of the best food served all year in Sherwood town.

Nameless Photos Collection: Who Was She?

The costume seems a bit overdone. Was she an actress? We haven't a clue. The feathered hat pin suggests a Sherwood Forest theme. A Gilbert and Sullivan-style play (actually by DeKoven and Smith) was big in 1890s. It was called "Robin Hood," and it's hit song was "Oh Promise Me."

Another Nameless Sherwoodian

The initials "M.W.M." are penciled on back. Could he have been a Morback? We don't know. Computer enhanced details may give a clue.


The timepiece (above right) is more than functional, and the lapel pin (at right) seems to have a design in it. These artifacts must be in somebody's collection. Any ideas out there?

On the Porch at Morback House

Sherwood Historians Sharing Scary Stories for Upcoming Ghost Tour.
Some members of the Historical Society believe in ghosts, others don't. "Frankly, I've never met a ghost." Clyde List remarked, "But I would like kids to know that creepy feeling I got when I was a Third Grader exploring the back alleys of Sherwood Old Town for the first time. With all those old buildings around me, I felt like an actor in Raiders of the Lost Ark! I discovered how interesting this town really is!"

Trail Days 2006

What could a bank robber, three Quaker girls, a coonskin hat, and a few sticks of dynamite have to do with the history of Sherwood?
The crowds just kept getting bigger during our fourth annual walking tour, also known as Heritage Trail Days. By Sunday afternoon there were between 15 and 20 visitors exploring our core area. This included a couple from Germany and another from England (from Nottingham, no less!). The Sherwood Gazette reports that "...tourism will likely grow in the Washington and Yamhill County areas." To which we might add: "...along with the world's curiosity about our typical little 19th Century railroad town."
See Gallery for more pictures.

Trail Days Report

See Our 2006 TRAIL DAYS PAGE!

COMMENT: OLD PHOTOGRAPHS at MORBACK HOUSE

"It is sobering to realize how one little story can keep someone living on in a descendant's memory. Once that story is forgotten, the person vanishes as if he never existed." --Charles Simic, The New York Review, October 5,2006
These are but two of the many mystery photographs the Sherwood Historical Society has received. They are of people who may or may not have lived here at one time. We just don't know. What were their names? What did they know that we might benefit from today? We will probably never know.

The City Still Loves Us!

Sherwood Historical Society President June Reynolds receives a box of historical items from Sherwood Mayor Keith Mays. Most of the artifacts once belonged to Woodmen of the World, which provided vital support to its members in the days before Social Security and Medicare.

In the Heart of Sherwood: Garth Hite Farm

Speaking of bucolic farm scenery, this photograph of Garth Hite appeared in the Sunday Oregonian April 1, 1950. It was probably taken from Pacific Highway. You'd be plowing up G.I.Joe's parking lot if you tried to farm that spot today. Garth was band-leader Don and Woody Hite's dad. (The caption reads: "Old-Timer G. E. Hite, born 70 years ago in Washington County, is long time farmer near Six Corners. Atop tractor, he eyes oat field he's sewing.")

Aebischer Farm Revisited

Here's a more recent (1980) view of the Aebischer Family Farm atop Chehalem Mountain. The view is looking toward Mount Hood. Lilly Morgan says she used to go skinny dippin' in that pond at the top of the picture.

The FOLKS Return!

We played and sang our hearts out at the Oregon-Idaho Border where the famous Jimmie Stewart movie, Bend in the River, was made. We also jammed at the annual Dufur Threshing Bee. On our way to Dufur we stopped in at the county seat of Baker County to research any possible connection with Sherwood's most famous historical figure, Delmar Baker (1892-1975). No such luck, but what a museum Baker City has! Most Haunting Memory of the Trip was found at Maryhill Museum. According to the caption: "This portrait of Tsar Nicholas II, the last ruler of Imperial Russia... hung in the Russian Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia (later Yugoslavia). During a riot which occurred near the time of the outbreak of World War I, the embassy was looted, the painting was slashed and the Russian ambassador was killed." The slashmarks across the Czar's face provide a pretty startling accent to such a tranquil place as Maryhill!