Kerby
Kerby is a small, unincorporated town on the Redwood Highway (US-199), just north of Cave Junction. Today you can drive through it in a minute, but from 1857 to 1886 it was the seat of Josephine County.
The town is named for James Kerby, who filed his claim here in the mid-1850s and became the first postmaster when the post office opened in 1856. For a few years it was officially called Napoleon (the story is below), but people went on calling it Kerbyville, and later the name was shortened to Kerby.
The county seat came to Kerbyville from Waldo, the gold camp to the south, in July 1857. Kerbyville sat on the main route between Crescent City, California, and the gold fields. It held the seat until 1886, when the county moved it to Grants Pass, a new town on the railroad that had just been finished through Oregon. The full story is on the history page.
Kerby is also where the valley's Friday market is held. The details are on Wine and farms.
Trivia: the years Kerby was Napoleon
On December 18, 1856, the territorial legislature renamed Kerbyville Napoleon. The town had just landed in the brand-new Josephine County, and the Oregon Encyclopedia says some thought every Josephine needed her Napoleon. The county was actually named for Virginia Josephine Rollins, a settler, not the empress, but the joke stuck for a while. The county commissioners used the new name until about April 1860, then went back to Kerbyville.
Why the guide on this site is a mule
In May 1800, Napoleon crossed the Alps by the Great St. Bernard Pass. Jacques-Louis David painted him on a rearing horse, but he actually made the climb on a sure-footed mule, led by a local guide named Pierre-Nicolas Dorsaz. On one narrow stretch the mule lost its footing, and Dorsaz held on and kept it from going over the side, according to the Fondation Napoléon in Paris. About 50 years later, the painter Paul Delaroche put the mule back in the picture.
Mules did the same steady work here. Fort Briggs, east of Cave Junction, began as a stockade for George E. Briggs's mule trains in the 1850s, and Kerbyville sat on the main route between Crescent City and the gold fields. So the guide that answers your questions on the map is a mule in Napoleon's hat. It doesn't have a name.
Kerbyville Museum and History Center
The Kerbyville Museum and History Center is on the highway at 24195 Redwood Highway. Its exhibits cover the valley's Native people, mining, logging, and the pioneers who settled here.
Part of the museum is outdoors. The grounds hold the Naucke House, an 1880s family home that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, plus a blacksmith shop, a miner's cabin, a log schoolhouse, and a replica of a Native pit house. Reviewers say it's worth a few hours to see everything, and they praise the volunteer guides.
The museum is run by volunteers, so hours depend on the season and on who is available. When we checked in November 2026, Google Maps listed it open Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., while other listings show a spring-to-fall season. Call (541) 592-5252 before you make a special trip. The museum posts news on its Facebook page, where it was still active in August 2026.
It's a Burl
It's a Burl is a family-owned burl wood gallery and showroom at 24025 Redwood Highway. Harvey and Joy Shinerock started it in 1987 in the old Kerbyville post office building.
Inside you'll find furniture, carvings, sculpture, and home decor made from burls, the knotted growths that form on some trees. Outside, the wood yard is stacked with raw burls and wood that woodworkers, artists, and builders come to buy. Even if you aren't shopping, it's worth a walk around the yard and the buildings on the lot. The gallery also takes custom orders and sells online.
- Hours: open every day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (It's a Burl website, checked November 2026).
- Phone: (541) 592-2141.
- Website: itsaburl.com.
Getting here
Kerby is on US-199 between Selma to the north and Cave Junction to the south. Both stops above are right on the highway, so you can see both on the drive to or from the Oregon Caves or the coast. For road conditions, see Getting here.
On the map in Kerby
- Kerbyville Museum and History Center: The valley's history museum, with exhibits on Native people, mining, logging, and pioneers.
- It's a Burl: A family-owned gallery of burl wood furniture, carvings, and decor, opened in 1987 in the old Kerbyville post office.
- Kerbyville Inn: A five-suite inn in Kerby with rooms named after wines.
- Sweet Cron - Cron Produce: The Nelsen family's farm stand on Sauer's Flat near Kerby, famous for its misspelled signs.