June 21, 2016

It’s Britt music festival season in Jacksonville! The Britt Festival grounds, the Britt Gardens, and portions of Jacksonville’s Woodlands Trail System were the homestead of Swiss-born pioneer Peter Britt who arrived in Jacksonville in 1852. Britt is perhaps best known as the pioneer photographer who documented Southern Oregon’s people, activities, and landscapes from the 1850s to 1900. However, he was also an avid gardener and is considered to be the father of Southern Oregon’s commercial orchard, wine, and ornamental horticulture industries. Britt Park, now the Britt Festival grounds and the City-owned lower Britt Gardens, was the focal point of many of these efforts.