Log Town Cemetery is easy to miss. It’s on Highway 238, up the hill from Jacksonville, nestled among trees, where the road, as it straightens out, invites the restless to drive too fast. This small, historic burial ground provides a safe haven for the remains of early settlers and
ancestors of the pioneering Applegate family.
It’s hard to believe, but the site remains unprotected as a historic landmark, leaving its legacy vulnerable. The Log Town Cemetery Association, a nonprofit formed in 1939, owns and operates the cemetery, which is maintained exclusively by volunteers. For decades, volunteer
Scott Traina has led the overwhelming task of maintenance—clearing, digging, organizing, and unraveling the extensive puzzle of who lies where. This ensures that, as people bury the sons and daughters of the Applegate there, no new additions infringe on the past.
Inspired by Jackson County landmarks like the Jacksonville Historic District and Hanley Farm, which secured preservation grants, this article calls for grant writers, volunteers, and advocates to ensure Log Town’s legacy endures as a protected historic site.
The graveyard dates back to the 1850s. The plots are unfenced, the headstones weathered. Some are illegible, and some graves are still unmarked, leaving the mystery of whose forbears have been laid to rest there. Without maintenance, the site will quickly succumb to overgrown
vegetation, erosion, broken headstones, and a faceless history.
In 2016, private donations allowed the Log Town Cemetery Association to install a fence. Rogue Valley Genealogical Society and Jackson County document known burial records. But without funding or organizational support, Log Town’s condition is fragile.
Yet, volunteer numbers are limited, and Traina seeks new stewards. He currently has a new sexton in training.
Log Town is a vital link to the Applegate Valley’s past. The Applegate family—Charles, Jesse, and Lindsay—blazed the Applegate Trail, which is part of the southern Oregon Trail, in the 1840s. Many buried in the Log Town Cemetery are their descendants or contemporaries. Their graves are landmarks of local resilience. Preserving Log Town ensures that these stories of pioneer perseverance endure. The cemetery is only six miles from the Jacksonville Historic District, a National Historic Landmark since 1966, which maintains its gold rush-era buildings through grants. But only protected historic sites are eligible for those grants.
Why isn’t Log Town a protected historic site? Its rural location and size reduce visibility to the public. The process of nominating a site to the National Register of Historic Places requires historical documentation to confirm plot ownership, but records are often illegible.
Maintenance is unsustainable for the cemetery’s few volunteers, many of whom are retired. Although rural cemeteries nationwide face this challenge, this one is special. It was named after the nearby Log Town settlement, a bustling hub for miners and travelers to the Applegate Valley. In the 1860s, there were stores, a meat market, a hotel, a church, a school, and three saloons. During the gold rush, Log Town was probably a stagecoach stop on the road to Buncom, just a few miles away, with its mining camp, supply center, and post office. On the Applegate Trail, Robber’s Rock, a huge rock not far from the cemetery that is referenced in local historical accounts, is said to have been a hiding place for thieves preying on the stagecoach
travelers during this era. The California Stage Company’s route started operation in 1860, connecting Jacksonville to Log Town at the mouth of the Applegate.
Grants already funding preservation of historic landmarks in Jackson County include:
Jacksonville Historic District: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office and Certified Local Government Grants
Hanley Farm: Oregon Heritage and National Trust for Historic Preservation Grants
Medford Downtown Historic District: Save America’s Treasures National Park Service Grant
Gold Ray Dam Site: The Oregon Historic Trails Fund
Phoenix Pioneer Cemetery: 2020 Oregon Lottery Grant
Traina’s work has kept Log Town Cemetery alive, but the community must act. Grant writers, volunteers, advocates, and new board members can ensure that the legacy of the Applegate and its ancestors endures. Please call 541-973-5139 to help save the Log Town Cemetery legacy now.
Gabrielle Pullen
gabrielle.pullen@gmail.com
www.theresiliencezone.com.
Gabrielle Pullen is a history buff with great respect for the stamina and resilience of our forebears.
