The Maxville Townsite Heritage Easement Project
The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center is working with Hancock Timber, Eastern Oregon University and Clatsop Community College on a plan to preserve the remaining original structures on the Maxville townsite. Volunteers have disassembled the Maxville cabin and moved it off the land in hopes of reassembling the cabin into a visitor center in Joseph to serve as a permanent home for the Interpretive Center.
With the help of a recent grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, classes from both the university and the community college helped to examine and document the cabin’s measurements, and ascertain the feasibility of moving the cabin while ensuring the project follows preservation standards as closely as possible.
Today, the original townsite of Maxville is owned by Forest Capital Partners, LLC, (FCP), a forest investment and management company. The company leases the site to a local family, the former owners of the property, which has grazed sheep and cattle on this land for three generations. The MHIC is working with both FCP and the family to access and research the town. All three entities—MHIC, Forest Capital Partners, and the family—share a desire to see this structure preserved.
With firsthand accounts dwindling and memories fading, MHIC is looking to archeological research to provide some answers. For example, the privies hold “treasures” that reveal what was consumed, what was thrown away, and what was hidden. Archeological research will also help determine the location of gardens and the holes that were dug to keep food items cool and preserved.
The MHIC has asked FCP to consider granting MHIC a heritage easement to ensure the continued preservation of the Maxville town site, while also honoring current grazing agreements, so that the land at the Maxville townsite can be left undisturbed until further studies can be carried out.
MHIC is currently seeking funding to continue research and cabin relocation.
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