Oregon Map

North Willamette Valley

Washington, Yamhill, Polk, Multnomah, Clackamas, and north Marion counties

Sheridan

Yamhill County, 97378

Sheridan lays along the South Yamhill river in the northern Willamette valley. It is snuggled up against the east side of the coast mountain range. That puts it in a rain shadow so it is a little drier than towns further east. It is also in the middle of the Yamhill wine country. The town was platted in the 1860's and so was appropriately named for General Philip Henry Sheridan of Civil war fame. They did not, however, just pick some far off general as a namesake. Sheridan was actually posted at nearby at Fort Yamhill in the 1850's. The town has had its ups and downs: the ups when the river came up in 1964 with devastating results and the downs when fire swept the central district in 1913 and burned it down. The town has traditionally had a farming and timber economy, but now benefits from the presence of a rather large federal minimum security prison. The summer event here is the Phil Sheridan days celebration when the locals have a chance to mix with each other and the locally produced wine vintages and micro-brews.