About Peter
In addition to leading tours, Peter is the author of the premiere blog and website about Ashland: WalkAshland.com. He is a regular contributor to the online Ashland.News, Ashland Living magazine and other publications.
He received an Individual Award from the City of Ashland Historic Commission in 2019 for contributions to the historic Railroad District “Marking Ashland Places” project. He also cooperates with the Public Arts Commission to raise awareness of the rich arts heritage in Ashland.
Prior to founding WalkAshland LLC, Peter’s leading role at a nationally successful dietary supplement company brought him to Ashland in 1991. His education responsibilities at the company included speaking about health and nutrition to audiences in four countries. Outside his professional life, he has been a poet and writer for more than 50 years.
Peter has lived in Ashland more than 30 years. Since founding WalkAshland, thousands of hours of walking neighborhoods, interviews with leading Ashlanders and deep-dive research have prepared Peter to share hundreds of fascinating little-known stories with you – both in writing and in person.
COLLABORATORS
The Southern Oregon Historical Society is a great resource. (1) If you like history, SOHS can always use volunteers to help with research, digitizing and transcribing. Learn about SOHS here. (2) Second, I encourage you to join SOHS as a member to support their work. The JOIN link is here.
The Ashland Garden Club spreads beauty. “Club Aims: To keep our flowers growing in beauty, our friendships growing in understanding and our service to the community growing in scope and fruitfulness.” I like to visit the Garden Club’s Garden of the Month as I walk Ashland. If you would enjoy learning about gardening with like-minded people, I encourage you to join the Ashland Garden Club. Click here for their membership page.
The Public Arts Commission. Art is not just in museums! I collaborate with Ashland’s Public Arts Commission (PAC) to boost appreciation for the many public artworks in Ashland. The PAC commissions new artworks, accepts gifts of public art from local philanthropists, and educates the community about the value of public art. Click here for PAC’s page on the city website, where you can access the “Public Art Map and Tour.”
Casey Roland has been an arborist, climbing and caring for trees, for more than 40 years. He is passionate about trees, and says that “Trees are the lungs of the earth, the union between the earth and the atmosphere.” Think on that for a moment. He says of his tree business (Casey P. Roland Tree Care), “My service is first and foremost education.” Casey is sharing his knowledge with me as I write a series of articles about every Ashland Tree of the Year.
George Kramer provides a wide range of architectural, documentation, and design services that are focused upon the creative reuse, restoration or rehabilitation of existing structures. His full range of services begin with project planning and documentation and continue all the way through to design and construction as appropriate. Visit George’s website.
Terry Skibby has been taking photographs of Ashland since high school. An expert in Ashland history and historic Ashland photographs, he donated his vast collection to Southern Oregon Digital Archives at the SOU Hannon Library. When I was starting WalkAshland.com, Terry encouraged me and shared his knowledge and historic photographs with me.