Lost Ashland

An Ashland, Oregon travel guide to help you find hidden treasures along the roads, alleys, paths, and trails less traveled

[lostashland]

Welcome !

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Scroll down to start exploring ...

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Or go directly to ...

○ Acid Castle Rocks 

○ Ashland Creek At Van Ness Avenue

○ The “A” Street Ghost House 

○ “A” Street Warehouse Alley 

○ Blackberry Way 

○ Family Life Bible Church 

○ The Giant Stone Steps 

○ Golden Spike Way 

○ Hanami Locations

○ Hargadine Cemetery 

○ Hearts Nature Trail 

○ Lithia Park Stairs 

○ The Lithia Park Swimming Hole 

○ The Little White Door and the Rose 

○ The Missing Blue Telephone Box 

○ The Old Car, the Old Military Jeep, and the Old Bits and Pieces 

○ The Old Ghost Tree 

○ 166 1/2 Hargadine Street 

○ The Ridge Road Puddles 

○ The 6th Street Tree Tunnel 

○ Terrace Street and Glenview Drive View 

○ The Vampire House

○ The View From the Downtown Parking Garage 

○ The Wall of Grapes

○ Water Street Echo Tunnel

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Scouting soon ...

○ Ashland Ponds 

○ Ashland Sanitarium 

○ Central Bike Path 

○ Clay Street Haunted House and Spooky Tree 

○ Hargadine Stairs 

○ Iowa Street Garage Ruins 

○ Lithia Spring Water 

○ The One-Hour Clock 

○ The Oredson Todd Waterfall 

○ The Site of the Old Ashland Greenhouses 

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[lostashland]

“A” Street Warehouse Alley

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A retro blue and white warehouse wall and telephone poles line this block of the gravel alley on one side, and old bungalows on the other. Lovely on rainy, puddly days as well as being so picturesque in the winter snow. You may find some delicious blackberries along the wooden fence to snack on in late summer.

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This alley is part of the Ashland Railroad District Alleyway System, and is a great stroll or lazy bike ride any time of the year. Most of these alleys are unpaved and have uneven entrances/exits to crossroads (ride slowly on your bicycle and watch your footing). Many of them also have overhanging fruit during late summer/early autumn and you can sample plums, grapes, and etc as you walk along. (And wild edible greens in early spring like miner’s lettuce, chickweed, and purple nettle, but please only eat things you know. Always research beforehand before foraging for anything)

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Please wander quietly, as this is a very local area, and oftentimes very quiet. Great for solo meandering while deep in thought. You can almost hear the whispers of the ancient trees speaking stories of the past …

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This particular spot is also just really fun to photograph through the seasons and different times of day.

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/Wfe359tZq5SXWtwH8

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[lostashland]

Ashland Creek at Van Ness Avenue

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Right next to Water Street Echo Tunnel is another cool place to explore. Not only does Water Street go under the railroad, so does Ashland Creek, and it goes under Van Ness Avenue too ! Echoes and flowing water, a nice combination, huh ?

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If you’ve come down Water Street from the plaza area (definitely the way you should walk/bicycle here), just before Van Ness you’ll notice a wild green area on your right that goes down to the creek. It seems to me it used to be a park and I’ve seen remnants of what might have been a sign with a park name on it, but it’s just a cool little forgotten pocket of nature now. If you come there at the right time of year on a windy day, tree seeds whirl around you like summer snow or dancing fairies. It’s a rare and wonderful phenomenon. 

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But getting back to the creek ! You can stand on the sidewalk on Van Ness and peer over the rails at a super beautiful view of the water rushing down under your feet, or hop over to the other side (look both ways before crossing the street!) and enjoy the trees overhanging the creek, and people’s street art on the tunnel. I saw a duck hanging out in the creek there when I came to take pictures, and there’s a cool waterfall-pipe too. When you go at the right time of day, it’s perfect for saying hi to your shadow.

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This is a nice, quiet residential-ish area so please be respectful and polite while exploring especially if you walk into the wild park-- those are people’s houses and private yards right across from the creek, so please don’t do anything annoying.

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/cyF9bNxhKiUxNTGz6

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[lostashland]

Water Street Echo Tunnel

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A short, single-lane bridge meeting at Water Street and Van Ness Avenue, supporting the Union Pacific Railroad line above. Built in 1907, its official name is the Water Street Arch.

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But anybody who’s passed through knows how cool the echo is. There’s really not much info out there about this bridge-tunnel. It’s kind of more of a thing to go experience. I’ve made a short video to introduce to you it (curious about the song...? https://youtu.be/lLqv3oaO818) but I hope you’ll come visit the tunnel too. I think it appreciates a little song once in awhile. Wouldn’t you too, if you were a tunnel with a nice echo?

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/Wuzuf5HsKdjicLjW9

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Hanami Locations

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Ashland in the springtime is full of flowers and there are lots of great places to go and do hanami or flower-viewing. Go with friends, bring a picnic, and enjoy the fleeting beauty and happiness of the blossoming trees. 

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Sakura (cherry blossoms) are the traditional trees to enjoy, and here’s some good spots to find them:

The corner of Granite and High Streets (pictured). Map: https://goo.gl/maps/YQVnCjfY3EyNN3a76

Black Swan Lake in Lithia Park. Map: https://goo.gl/maps/NqhFGfMESzWJ7WyP9

The Japanese Garden in Lithia Park (2nd and 3rd pictures). Map: https://goo.gl/maps/KVkjVTFQ6vm9dfpa7

Garfield Park. Map: https://goo.gl/maps/HrBPPP6EZzzvony29

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Plenty of other trees bloom in springtime, and here are a few good spots to enjoy them as well:

The Cottle Property, Almonds in early spring, Apple and Pear blossoms in mid-spring. Map: https://goo.gl/maps/Hvu5KFkoiGMFgQJF6

Garden Way Park, ancient crabapple trees with dark fuchsia-colored blossoms in mid-spring (4th picture). Map: https://goo.gl/maps/eUiDBQGafTjtCDB56

The Sherman Street Free Little Library, with a bench under a grand old white flowering tree that blooms in early spring. Map: https://goo.gl/maps/R5HPogLAMPcc3UMr6

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I’ll be adding to this list whenever I come across another lovely place, so keep an eye out ! 

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[lostashland]

The Vampire House

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That is the lovingly-nicknamed name for this wonderfully boro-boro falling-apart Queen Anne-accented slightly-spooky house with dark red walls. It’s one of my absolute favorite houses in town, and I also love that, however shabby and wonky it looks, people still live there -- yay ! I couldn’t say if there’s actual vampires, but it seems to me to be the perfect place for some to live.

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I’ve only ever seen a black cat that lives here, and I’ve never stopped to chat to it, so the only real info I have is that it’s the E. E. Phipps House built in 1903. The address number is 113-- which I think totally fits perfect ! The street name will not be mentioned as this is a private residence and it’s kinda rude to drive by someone’s house just to stare at it. If you do happen to know the location, or run across it while exploring, please be polite.

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E. E. Phipps appears to have been a contractor who was in charge of building some of the sewers in town back in 1906. Edward Everett and his wife Edyth’s daughter, Margaret, died the year before at only four years of age, and on my birthday too (November 16), and is buried in Ashland Cemetery. In a clipping of the Ashland Weekly Tidings from December 8, 1920, E. E. Phipps opened up a real estate office in the Camps Building, 50 E Main Street, built in 1904, which is now where Harvey’s Place is, and was before Chateaulin Restaurant and Wine Shop. (Though perhaps it might’ve been in an office on the second floor)

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Edyth Phipps made the social page of the Ashland Tidings on May 3, 1917. Sounds like she can throw quite the banquet ! Digging the bicycle ad, too.

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Well, this is still a small town, much like it was back then, so that’s all the info I could dig up related to this house. Except-- fast forward a few decades-- in a listing in the Yoga Journal July/August 1986, this house seems to have been the location of Ashland Yoga Studio, and in 2012, a resident of this house was noted for voicing arguments in favor of keeping backyard chickens.

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It’s kind of interesting there is so much history recorded relating one cool old house. It does make me wonder though ... How have those old sewers held up after all this time ? Are they still made of brick, or have they been modernized since then ? But I’m always curious about tunnels and such. If I ever got the chance, I think it would be super amazing to wander around this house and see all the original details up close. Wouldn’t that be cool ? Just a daydream ...

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Map: n/a

[lostashland]

The Giant Stone Steps

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In a farther part of Lithia Park, along Ashland Creek is an old, mossy, stone stairway. The steps are so big, could they have once been built by a giant or some other large creature residing in the park in the days of old? Perhaps the entrance to its castle?

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Now these steps stand as a picturesque curiosity. They don’t lead to anywhere much, though above them is a nice shady, grassy area and a cool old concrete water fountain with a mossy miniature garden growing in it. It’s a pretty special place to get a drink of water, and a cool little corner of our park.

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/yeZnUTd8k7xhKftV9

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[lostashland]

The Willow Trees

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Monday, April 6th we cried tears for our two willow tree friends of the Library Alley. The street won’t be the same without your branches leaning softly over our heads, your leaves and flowers brightening the view of the sky, the lovely dance you danced in the slightest breeze.

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Now that the noise has passed and peace returned, a small amount of happiness mingles in with the sadness in my heart. All those times we got to spend together come flowing back to memory … I feel as if we’d been friends a very long time, though I only really noticed you but a few years ago.

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I wish I could stand beneath your branches one last time. You will be missed dearly. Farewell.

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[lostashland]

Acid Castle Rocks

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Up in the hills above Strawberry Lane are forest trails and mountain roads, some of which can bring you to the Acid Castle Rocks area.

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The rocks themselves offer great lookout points over downtown and fresh, crisp air. Wildflowers line the walk in spring, snow in winter. A ways up the main dirt road (used by hikers and mountain bikers, so keep a sharp eye and ear out when you’re walking) and off on a branching trail is an outcropping of quartz rock, and further up before the trail gets too steep, there are madrone tree families.

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There is also a narrow trail to get up to the rocks ... But more on that in a minute.

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Or you can come up by the road and find a little steep trail down to the lookout boulders.

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The odd thing about it is, the Acid Castles is in a strange magnetic field. I heard about it from someone, who saw someone talking on TV about it and I couldn’t find any more info since then to research it, but that would explain a few things ...

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The first time I came up here, a friend brought me and we set off on the trail up to the rocks (not the dirt road). I wasn’t wearing the best hiking boots and I packed much too much in my backpack and figured that was why I was so wobbly and feeling like I was falling off a cliff the entire time (!) The view at the end of the torturous hike was almost worth feeling like I was going to lose my footing and die at any moment -- until I saw that we could’ve taken the road up, but I didn’t know there was a road until we stepped onto it as we left.

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The last time I was up here was Christmas at twilight, when there was snow on the ground, and it was a lovely walk up the road-- right up until the trail to the rocks. But I was determined to fight the sudden dizziness and clumsiness and sip the tea and munch on the satsuma and absinthe-flavor chocolate I brought (a little Christmas picnic). Well, it took a ridiculous amount of time to get atop the boulder and convince myself I wasn’t going to fall off the edge of the world, so I didn’t quite get to the chocolate. But it seriously feels like that whole hillside is tipping backwards off the earth. Weird.

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A couple days later is when I heard the rumor of the magnetic field up there. Whatever it is, I guess others have felt it too. If you’re sensitive to stuff like that, be sure to be extra careful and maybe go with someone who doesn’t sense weird things so they can help you out if you get too wobbly. 

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There wasn’t enough daylight to go up to the madrone grove last time, but that’s also a curious thing -- good curious. If you haven’t sat inside a madrone circle yet, you simply must ! It’s an amazing, calming, comforting place. There are lots of these “families” of trees in the hills and mountains around Ashland, but I know for sure that up the road, then turn right up the mountain bike trail from Acid Castle Rocks are some really pleasant ones. Just be careful about running into poison oak when you go off the trails. So if you get wonky from the rocks, I definitely recommend some tree time afterwards.

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One interesting thing I haven’t been able to find any information on yet, is that by the quartz outcropping, there are spring garden bulb flowers. It just seems kind of strange. Like, was there a house there way back in time? Or did someone just have some extra flower bulbs and decided to plant them there for fun ? Part of me wonders if it used to be an old gold prospector’s site since there’s always quartz where there’s gold around here. And maybe one of the prospectors’ wives decided to plant a garden? Okay, maybe that’s not too realistic, but who knows? It makes me wonder ...

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Acid Castle Rocks trail map: https://goo.gl/maps/hVaovMSJxspSvJpSA

Where the actual rocks are map: https://goo.gl/maps/ui87otZysDXtsWr88

Quartz area map: https://goo.gl/maps/HeYB1uAdCyxqcW7o8

Madrone families map (ish): https://goo.gl/maps/7p2JB43yiraf47k2A

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[lostashland]

Hargadine Cemetery

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Ashland’s oldest cemetery rests peacefully up a hill on the north side of town above the hustle and bustle of the lively town below. A great place for a quiet contemplative stroll, and I think the old graves appreciate a little friendly attention. There are a lot of very, very old grave markers (even made of wood) that makes for some very interesting exploring. Here you’ll find the last remains of many early Ashland settlers. Once you’ve made your way along the paths and under the ancient trees, there’s a nice bench with a beautiful mountain view.

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Just a little hidden spot you might pass by without knowing it’s there, but fun to visit ! ... If you think cemeteries are fun ... Well, I do (!) They’re a great way to connect to local history when you feel a little melancholy. 

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Read the lovely thoughts engraved upon weather-worn and stained marble, remember how short and precious life is, shed a couple tears, walk away, and get back to living life. Repeat as needed.

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P.S. It’s pronounced Här-guh-dīne (”Har” like a pirate “arr,” “guh” like “duh,” and “dine” with a long “i” like “die”).

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/TeSHhnbQXu1Uzhd69

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The “A” Street Ghost House

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First Entry 2018: This is a hidden treasure that won’t be the same too much longer-- the old man who lives in this lovely “haunted” house is currently remodeling it. But for the moment, it still remains one of the last houses of its kind in Ashland.

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Who knows what mysteries and remarkable things this house has seen through the ages-- from the days of the building of the railroad across the street, to the last passenger train pulling out of the station in the 1940s sending troops out to win the war ...

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I dunno, aren’t old falling-apart-looking houses cool? I think so. Feel free to walk by and step back in time. But be respectful to the residents, whether living or otherwise. The wild gardens on the side and back of the house are nice too.

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Right across the street is a park and playground called Railroad Park that’s nice for playing and picnicking and hanging out and sky-watching, and also where the cross-town bike path starts. On the opposite corner is Chozu, a Japanese sento, snack bar, and spa. It’s a really lovely place to stop after work for a drink and bite to eat.

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Cheers!

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/ggJuNWUgBrdDG3iW7

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Jan. 2020 Update: The house is now painted white and looking especially wonderfully ghosty, but up for sale. We’ll see what happens next, but hoping our friend the Ghost House will be allowed to stay here for many, many more years to come.

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[lostashland]

Blackberry Way

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Fans of the warehouse alleyway in the Railroad District will love to know that, in summer, about one half of the same alley block is lined in lush blackberry vines while sunflowers peek over the fence to say hi.

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You have to be lucky to find some berries because I’m sure this is one of the birds’ favorite places downtown too. I hope you are because Ashland blackberries are delicious.

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And that ever-present forest-mountain view. There’s something magic about this neighborhood I’ve not been able to figure out, so the only thing to do is to wander around as much as possible and ponder the beautiful mystery of it.

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/YPn1yTvCiVeeLM9N8

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[lostashland]

Family Life Bible Church

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Now a private residence, it was once a cute lonely old white church sitting and smiling as people went past.

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There also used to be a slate-grey Volvo station wagon that would be parked nearby, and especially on autumn and winter days, the volvo and the church always looked so nice together.

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/HeW6U2oRXFnKSStWA

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[lostashland]

166 1/2 Hargadine Street

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Across the street from one of the best urban viewpoints in town, the Hargadine Parking Structure roof, sits quietly a little old shop-front. Over the years it’s gotten more and more boarded up and little graffitied, but you can still kinda see that it was once a lock-and-key shop if you peek in the window. So many little keys ...

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Actually, if we take a look at the 1949 Sanborn map of Ashland, we make another fascinating discovery (!) Besides finding out the street address (which seems to be long gone from the building...), we also learn that it used to be a bicycle repair shop. I love bicycles, and for some reason I’ve always loved this little shop, so that was a major discovery for me.

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Who knows how much longer this little piece of forgotten history will still be here? I hope, for a long time. I think it’d be awesome if someone got the opportunity to fix it up and remodel it, and make it into some cool little neighborhood hangout. Tea shop, a petit café, microbrewery tasting room... Just getting some ideas out there-- maybe someone’ll catch one and make it happen. Or, who knows? Bicycle repair shop? History has repeated itself many times before.

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/Ko8ACBffX7M6nmb5A

1949 map: http://www.ashland.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=9012

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[lostashland]

The View from Terrace Street (Or Glenview Drive)

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Up on the downtown mountain just east of Lithia Park are some gravel roads that lead up and through some hilltop neighborhoods. Along two of them, you can stop and view a beautiful panorama looking northwest, north, and northeast, depending on how many leaves are on the trees at the time.

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In winter, you can see through the bare branches of trees the best, and it’s a quick hike to gain elevation to (partially) escape the wood-stove and fireplace smoke that tends to sit and collect in the valley in the cold months. Ah, breathe deep!

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This is also a great spot to test your knowledge of the geography of Ashland by seeing if you can recognize the streets and buildings from a different angle than you usually see them. You might be baffled, look closely.

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Or, pick a spot along the road and sit awhile to clear your head of worries and silly thoughts. Some times of the day there’s a bit of traffic, and there’s always a dog walker or runner or two, and the occasional mountain biker, but this is another great place to go to and get away from everything for a little while. There’s just something healing about looking out at the view ...

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Obviously I’m a little biased and think it’s the most beautiful here in the clouds and fog (imagine how it’d look in the snow!), but this view has something special about it no matter what season it is.

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Glenview map: https://goo.gl/maps/CTv6GYNhbLmpT6Wi6

Terrace map: https://goo.gl/maps/TcRyP2WjD5NcqShW9

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[lostashland]

The Old Car, the Old Military Jeep, and the Old Bits and Pieces

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I think this place has something to do with Souther Oregon University, but not exactly sure, and has been a wonderful curiosity whilst wandering the Railroad District Alleyway System for years. And in summer, on this side of it (this land sits between two alleys, how nice) there’s a great big delicious plum tree so you can stop, snack, and contemplate the quite artistic collection of old who-knows-whats.

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This portion of alley between 4th and 5th Streets is actually super cute with little bungalows and gardens, and nice and shady.

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You can’t really see it, but under the white canopy, there’s a really cool 1930s or something car. Like straight out of an old movie! What’s it doing here, and who used to ride around all fancy in it? I wonder if anyone’s working on getting these cars running again?

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All these mysteries and more are sitting quietly and patiently here throughout every season.

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/xchTBPAB3YZXANDY6

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Golden Spike Way

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On December 17, 1887, the final spike in the railway system that connected the entire United States together was put in place right here in Ashland, of all places. The golden spike itself is long gone, but Golden Spike Way remains as a memorial to this great feat in cross-country transportation.

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The freight trains still go by once in awhile, but you can’t see them from here, oddly enough. The main attraction, as far as I can see, is a quiet little walk where you can find an old apple tree and meet a scrub-jay or two. Perhaps a resident cat, you just never know.

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If your wanderings take you up this way, be sure to check it out!

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Map: https://goo.gl/maps/GZjzHou7S38yVqvDA

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