Pictured is the Opal Whiteley Mural, as seen in Downtown Cottage Grove. Photo provided
Cottage Grove and Opal Whiteley have a long and somewhat complicated relationship. She grew up in nearby Walden, Star, and other logging towns and camps and was undoubtedly a savant, the likes of Mozart and other child prodigies. Whiteley had a photographic memory and was able to absorb vast amounts of natural history, plant & animal names, long passages from the…
