What can one acre of land tell us about our history?
At the former townsite of Maxville in Wallowa County, Oregon, an acre can tell us about the marginalized and little-known history of African American loggers. An acre can tell us how African American men and women and their families lived in railroad towns and harvested timber that would build the country we know today; how they lived in the state of Oregon despite exclusionary laws that stated "free negroes" were not allowed; and how, like much of America, segregation was practiced in northwest logging towns as it was in the Jim Crow south.
An acre of wilderness can tell us how it wasn't wilderness once, but a bustling town of 400 people, African American loggers and their families, who are part of the fabric of the American West's little-understood logging culture and were part of a larger population of Greek and White logging families.
Since 2008, the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center in Joseph, Oregon has been telling that story, and the Maxville Honorary Acre Program is an opportunity to support the Center in securing the physical and historical townsite of Maxville.
By making the gift of an Honorary Acre, you are not buying real property or an interest in real property. You are doing much more than that. You are donating to the Center, who will use the funds to preserve and steward the 240 acres where the historical townsite of Maxville was located, and care for that acre into the future, ensuring it is a healthy part of the surrounding forests, meadows, wetlands and historical site.
Since its founding, the Center has faced a seemingly-insurmountable challenge: to bring a ghost town back to life. With your Honorary Acre, the Center has the opportunity to restore historical structures which the Center has preserved all these years to their original place and bring to light the story of African American logging culture where it was then and as it was then. You will be a critical part of a landmark moment in the Center's history, as well as the true history of the American West and the United States of America.
For your Honorary Acre, you will receive the coordinates at the center of the acre which your donation helps the Center steward. The Center will also plant 240 trees to commemorate the 240 acres we have purchased, including the acre stewarded with your donation; and finally, all donors to the Honorary Acre Program will be honored on a plaque which will be posted and featured in the center of the historical townsite of Maxville. The coordinates for your Honorary Acre are symbolic for fundraising purposes only and do not create a lot, parcel or unit of land for ownership or conveyance to the donor.
Make an Acre Together:
Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center wants to make sure any donor can participate in this community effort to preserve the historical site of Maxville, no matter their financial circumstances. In that spirit, donors who cannot give the gift of an entire Honorary Acre can contribute any amount they are able to Make an Acre. Their gifts will be pooled with other Make-an-Acre donors, and together, this pool of donors will form their own community and help the Center preserve the historical townsite of Maxville, where funds are most needed.
Our 2020 Gala, recognize donors as honorary acre and build an acre donors unless otherwise stated. This project is funded in part by the Meyer Memorial Trust’s Justice Oregon for Black Lives fund.
Land
Management Fund
Donate an Honorary acre
