Friday Evening: 7:00 dinner at the Sandpiper Restaurant; featured speaker Margaret Templer-Carter. 

Saturday Morning: After breakfast, visit the Douglas County Museum. It opens at 9 a.m.; $3.50 fee. 

Saturday Picnic Lunch at Noon: at the South Myrtle Creek Bridge (Neal Lane). You'll want to be on time for this, as we're going to try and get a group picture. [This is what was in the printed booklet but the incorrect location was given: we met for lunch in the park just to the south of the Sanderson lots in Myrtle Creek, at the picnic tables, and met for the group picture at that covered bridge.] 

Saturday Afternoon: You have several options which include Myrtle Creek, Canyonville and its museum, Riddle, Riddle Cemetery, Willis Creek Cemetery, etc. 

Saturday Evening: 7:00 dinner at the Sandpiper Restaurant; featured speaker Karen E. Willard. 

Sunday Morning: After breakfast we'll gather for a business meeting to make plans for our 1999 Willard Family Reunion West. 

Roseburg to Myrtle Creek:  16 miles 
Myrtle Creek to Riddle:  7 miles 
Riddle to Canyonville:  5 miles

Douglas County Museum

From the Windmill Inn (which is at exit 125) get on I-5 heading south. Take exit 123 (Portland Ave) from Interstate 5, go eastwards under the freeway on Portland Ave and turn south on Frear. You'll see the museum off on your right; you'll need to turn right on Medford Ave to get to the front of it. It's open at 9:00 a.m. and charges $3.50 per person. 

In addition to the displays, the museum has a collection of historical photographs, copies of which may be ordered. The gift shop has copies of George Riddle's Early Days In Oregon for sale ($12).

Murals In Roseburg

Willis Creek Cemetery

From the South, leave I-5 at Exit 113 and go left (West) under the freeway to the T-junction with Highway 99 and head north on 99. 

From which ever direction you begin, follow Highway 99 to its junction with Brockway Road just south of Dillard. Turn westwardly onto Brockway Road, cross the creek, and take the very first left 0.3 miles from Highway 99 to Rice Creek Road via Willis Creek Road (the road sign says "To Rice Creek Road" but you'll be on Willis Creek Road.) Willis Creek Road is going to eventually curve around and take you past the Willis Creek Cemetery. The entrance to the Cemetery, on the right, is 3.2 miles from the junction with Brockway Road. 

Buried here is Margaret A. Feathers Rice Brockway. She married Austin S. Rice in 1864 at the home of John & Jennie Riddle. (Yes, Rice Creek is where the Rice clan lived). John Riddle and H.E. Spaulding were her witnesses. After Austin died in 1869, Margaret married an ambitious neighbor, Beman B. Brockway. (Yes, the town of Brockway is named for this man.) Margaret died in 1881 and generous Beman buried her next to her first husband. Beman remarried and is buried in the Civil Bend cemetery with his second wife. 

It is suspected that this Margaret Feathers was the daughter of David H. Feathers and his first wife. [Since the Reunion Weekend, the list of David's first set of children has been obtained, and Margaret's name is not there.]

Noon Lunch at Myrtle Creek

One of the shortest covered bridges in Oregon at 42 feet, the Neal Lane Bridge, which spans South Myrtle Creek about one mile SE of the city, is the only covered bridge with a kingpost truss in the state. The plank flooring, arched portals, narrow window opening, and rural setting add to its appeal. It was built for $1000 in 1939.

Myrtle Creek and William Sanderson

Myrtle Creek was the home of the William Sandersons from about 1864 to the mid 1880s at least, when they purchased house lots in Riddle from John Riddle. (Ellen Feathers Sanderson died in 1895 in Riddle.) The Myrtle Creek property was bought from John Hall, founder of Myrtle Creek; lots #6 and #7 in Block 10 on Main Street (the southhand side of Main). Lot #6 became the "Myrtle Theater at 126 Main Street, and Lot #5 [not owned by the Sandersons] is on the corner and became the Rice Bros. & Adams Building, 136 Main Street. The Myrtle Theater was constructed in 1917. It provided storefront space and warehouse space. As a theater, both silent movies and talkies were shown. It was sold about 1933. The building on the corner (Lot #5) was constructed about 1915 and used as a general mercantile store supplying the miners in the Myrtle Creek Drainage, as well as the residents of the city.

Riddle And Its Cemetery

The Railroad Depot was built in 1882, and J.B. platted the Townsite of Riddles (note the spelling) the same year, naming the streets for his (2nd) wife and daughters. The streets of original Riddles pretty much line up with the railroad, rather than aligning with the N-S, E-W grid preferred by today's county planning departments. 

The Riddle House on 5th Avenue and "O" Street was built in 1886. It was considered the most elegant hotel south of Portland and it became the social center for Riddles. In 1884 the Riddles donated four lots at E and 1st Ave S for Riddles' first school. 

J.B. Riddle helped found and construct the Riddle State Bank at the corner of Fifth ande Main. He was named the first bank president in 1910. 

The Riddle Grocery on Main Street was built during the flourishing years of the 1890s. It was purchased by Will Q. Brown in 1902. 

John and Jennie (Feathers) Riddle had married in 1864 and they lived in the Vandenbosch house. This shake-weather-boarded house had served as the first school in the valley, with Mary Vandenbosch as teacher. Jennie died in 1865 and John re-married in 1867 to Mary Frances Catching. In 1895 John built what was to be his luxurious retirement home on Main Street. It was constructed to resemble his parents home near Springfield, Illinois, which the family had left in 1851 when they emigrated to Cow Creek Valley. 

Buried in the riddle cemetery, which was established at least as early as 1864, are Lewis Willard Feathers, son of Nancy Willard & David Feathers; also his nephew, George David Sanderson, son of Ellen Clara Feathers and William Sanderson; also Ellen Clara herself. 

Also to be found here are most of the extensive Riddle clan, including John B. Riddle and his second wife and their children. 

Jane A. Feathers Riddle, who died tragically in 1865, is said to be buried in one of the oldest cemeteries of Roseburg. Her grave has not been located yet. 

Graves of interest to us are marked with be-ribboned sticks.

Directions to Cemetery:

To visit the cemetery before going into the town, the Riddle Bypass Road is the road you'll be on when taking the exit for Riddle from Interstate 5 (if you're heading south from Myrtle Creek).

Key to buildings on the map: