“Road to Yesterday” at SOHS Hanley Farm
On Sunday, July 20, between 10am and 3pm, the Southern Oregon Historic Society’s Hanley Farm will be a featured stop on the 2025 Rogue Valley Farm Tour, a day-long opportunity to visit 30 different farms and ranches, participate in tastings and field tours, purchase local goods, and learn about our local food system.
Every 20 minutes, SOHS Hanley Farm will be offering the opportunity to travel the “Road to Yesterday,” and experience the sights, smells, and sounds of 19th century farm life. Visitors will meet members of the Hanley family—daughters Ella and Alice, Grandfather Burnett, Mother Martha, Cousin Laura, the wagon helper, cryptically known as “the swamper,” and Mr. Michael Hanley the best-known stockman in the Rogue Valley.
SOHS Hanley Farm is located at 1053 Hanley Road in Central Point (just outside of Jacksonville). There is no charge for admission. To enhance the experience, period hats and bonnets are provided for children.
“Road to Yesterday” reenactments evoke life on the farm in 1876, one year after the new house was completed. The corrals are full of animals and members of the Hanley Family and friends are busy. Women are doing the washing, children are toting water, hired hands are feeding the animals, and the men are readying the big freight wagon to go to “Californy.”
The “Road to Yesterday” leads to a world very different from our own. Visitors will hear accents reflecting families rooted in Missouri, Virginia, and southern Ohio. They will encounter the past in the lyrics and rhythm of banjo music of the era, and in the taste of pioneer flat bread. They will learn how Mr. Hanley trained and talked to his mules. Visitors touring the house can imagine the smell of new paint and fresh plaster.
In 1876, the new Hanley home was a showpiece of Jackson County. Michael Hanley was a prominent farmer and rancher with extensive holdings where he raised oats, alfalfa, hay and livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and mules). A souvenir of these days is a featured part of the Hanley Farm tour—a beautiful, high-wheeled Mitchell wagon, a design dating to 1872, fully restored and donated to the Southern Oregon Historical Society by Michael Hanley IV.
For additional information, please contact Larry Mullaly at lmullaly@jeffnet.org or 541-531-1436
