Like a scene from a Hollywood Western

f you've ever wondered what it was like to grow up in a pioneer town, the Homestead Village is about as close as it gets. Begun in 1988 by the Fort Rock Valley Historical Society, the village has grown to more than 10 buildings that sit on a dry and windy prairie, rivaling anything seen in a Clint Eastwood Western. The village began with two abandoned buildings that were about to be burned down because ranchers believed they were a danger to cattle that wandered the open range. First was Britt Webster's hand-hewn log cabin, only a roof, four walls, five windows and a door. It was the family home from homesteader days until the death of Webster's only son, Carl, in 1988. Next was Dr. James Thom's tiny two-room medical office, its shelves stocked with medicine bottles. Thom was the only physician in the Fort Rock Valley during the influenza pandemic of 1918, but he kept his neighbors safe and only lost one patient. Almost every pioneer town had at least one church, and in the Fort Rock Valley, built entirely of wood in 1918, it was St. Rose's Catholic Church. If you stand on its porch and look toward the Webster cabin you'll see the town's vintage windmill...more