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Get Your Tickets Early. Avoid the Rush. Usually a Sell-Out Event!!

HELP * HELP * HELP

The Western Sonoma County Historical Society is compiling a book covering
the history of the Gravenstein Apple Industry in Sebastopol. The Society is
seeking additional photographs to include in the book covering the topics of
Apple farming families, Canneries and dryers, cooperatives, packing house
operations, Apple shipping and marketing, labor sources, Apple Blossom
festivals and Gravenstein Apple Fairs.

Photos must be original. Photos will be scanned and the originals returned
immediately to owners. Credit will be given in the book to photo lenders.
Photos may be brought to the West County Museum on Saturday March 13 from 10
am to 2 pm or call Evelyn McClure 829-1757 or Rae Swanson 823-0884 to
arrange another time.

Gold Ridge Experiment Farm is a project of the
Western Sonoma County Historical Society,
261 South Main Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472.
(707) 829-6711          www.wschsgrf.org

                                Patty Levenberg
                                Farm Volunteer
                                (707) 823-8959

Western Sonoma County Historical Society Monthly Newsletter

Society Calendar of Events

Click here for an essay by Jean on the
2009 Barbara Bull Memorial Cemetery Walk

Our 2008 Annual Cemetery Walk was a sell-out and well cheered despite rain on Friday night. Enjoy Jean's essay on this event.

See also "Cemetery Walk Reflections" by Jean F.

HISTORY OF ANALY HIGH SCHOOL 1908-2008
Click here: centennial home page

At Gold Ridge Farm We are Open for Plant Sales and Tours of Burbank's Cottage
Wednesday mornings, 9 am to noon

The Shasta Daisy, one of the world's favorite flowers, was developed by Luther Burbank more than 100 years ago here at his Experiment Farm, located adjacent to the Burbank Heights Senior Housing project at 7781 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol. The staff of Martha Stewart Living magazine visited the Farm in Sebastopol and Burbank Gardens in Santa Rosa in June 2003 filming the daisies at the peak of their bloom and learning about Burbank and his flower creation. The Shasta Daisy was the culmination of his work to develop a daisy which was pure white, like the snow on Mt. Shasta.

The Luther Burbank Experiment Farm is a Registered National Historic Place open to the public for walking tours every day. Maps of the tour are available here, at his Farm cottage.Viewed from the winding paths many examples of his work can be seen across the three acres. Peak season to see the display of Shasta Daisies is May and June.

To find the Farm follow Highway 12 for 8 miles from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol, continue west on Bodega Avenue up a gradual hill to the 7700 block. The Farm is on the left. Follow the senior housing driveway up the hill; the farm is on the right. Special parking is available at the barn or along Bodega Avenue. Volunteers are available every Wednesday morning to assist visitors. Click the address to see a map:7781 Bodega Avenue, Sebastopol.

    Did you know there is a Town of Sevastopol in Wisconsin? We inquired as
to how they were named. They replied: We, too, were named after the Russian
(now Ukraine) port on the Black Sea. Our Town was formally established in
1859 and we are in the process of planning for our Sesquicentennial
Celebration in 2009!
    And yes, we have heard of your town in California, I believe there is
also one in Mississippi.
    We are located in beautiful Door County, which is the peninsula that
juts out into Lake Michigan on the western side of Wisconsin. We started
out as a logging/farming/fishing community. Farmland has given way to
residential development in Sevastopol. Door County is a well known and
established tourist destination, with lots of natural beauty and
recreational fishing and we are located mid-section, with Green Bay on the
west and Lake Michigan on the east. Population-2,780 within 28,330 acres,
say roughly 10 x 10 miles in size.