Walk and Learn
Daily walking tours of downtown delve into the valley’s history.
Standing under the towering cottonwoods inside the Town Square in downtown Jackson, it is easy to become distracted by the throngs of visitors posing under the elk-antler arches and filling the boardwalks. But take a tour with Morgan Jaouen, and you’ll learn there is more to downtown than the gift shops, art galleries, and phenomenal people watching.
For example, on a tour Jaouen will point to a building, like one on Center Street on the Town Square’s eastern side. Exterior signs indicate it is home to the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort store, Hines Jewelers, and Wilcox Gallery II. But it’s also the oldest building on the Town Square—older than the square itself. “It was built in 1896 and was originally a community-gathering space called ‘The Clubhouse,’” Jaouen might say. “Everything from dances to meetings were held there, and for a time, it even served as the post office.”
We try to tell the foundational story of a real Western town that continues to this day.”
Back at the Jackson Hole Historic Society and Museum, where this walking tour starts, there is a 1907 photo of The Clubhouse. It stands alone, seemingly in the middle of nowhere with nothing else around it.
“Many visitors to Jackson Hole know Jackson as an Old West town turned modern day tourist attraction but don’t really understand what that means,” says Jaouen, executive director of the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum. “There is so much more to Jackson’s story.” The historical society, whose mission is to compile, preserve, and share Jackson’s history through information, stories, photos, and objects, has for decades offered walking tours to show more of the story. “We hope they share the town’s history in a tangible and visceral way,” Jaouen says. “The tours really connect people to this place. It’s an accessible and affordable way to, in only an hour and whether you are just visiting or you just moved here, form a deeper connection with this place.”
Jesse O’Connor started as a volunteer tour guide in 1998. All of the guides, and there are about five each season, are volunteers or employed at the museum. O’Connor is a tour guide by profession, working in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks since he arrived in the area in 1980. For him, the historical society’s walking tours are about showing people the real Jackson.
“It was, and is, a real town, rather than just a famous and fancy place for tourists,” he says. “The real town is peeking out from the corners where you least expect it. More important than the names, dates, and numbers is the town’s underlying story. We try to tell the foundational story of a real Western town that continues to this day.”