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Ashland is a great Western crossroads of culture and recreation. One of America’s finest theatrical complexes and Shakespearean festivals, and a flourishing university, are driving forces. In a luxuriant mixed forest high on the southern rim of the Rogue River country, the town overlooks a broad pastoral valley surrounded by impressive peaks. Complementing the lovely natural setting is one of the mildest climates in the Northwest. Weather is normally warm and dry from spring through fall, when roadside stands display a bountiful harvest of regional produce.
A year after gold was discovered in nearby Jacksonville in 1851, Ashland was founded. It grew slowly with a sawmill and flour mill as the main industries, along with railroading, fruit growing, and lumbering. In 1935, a professor at the local college, Angus Bowmer, won support for using an abandoned Chatauqua site downtown for a Shakespearean production as part of a celebration. Success soon led to the organization of the Oregon Shakespearean Festival Association. In the past seventy years the town has become renowned for its world-class theater complex.
Today, the Festival runs most of the year in three fine theaters offering a wide range of productions. Spectacular Lithia Park and the heart of town adjoin the Festival grounds. Nearby specialty shops and galleries feature regional arts, crafts, and gourmet foods. Fine restaurants are plentiful, as are lodgings, including a stellar array of romantic bed-and-breakfast inns that delight theater-goers and outdoor enthusiasts here to enjoy nearby rivers, lakes, and mountains, and the mild four-season climate.
For additional information, here are a dozen of our favorite attractions, restaurants, and lodgings: |
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Ashland
Astoria
Baker City
Bandon
Bend
Brookings
Cannon Beach
Florence
Gold Beach
Grants Pass
Hood River
Jacksonville
Joseph
Lincoln City
McMinnville
Newport
Seaside
Sisters
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