Guerneville, California >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Guerneville is a census-designated place in Sonoma County, California. As of the 2000 census, it population was 2,441. Guerneville (pronounced Gurn-ville by locals who can recognize tourists by their use of Gur-nee-ville) is the main resort town in the scenic Russian River Valley, and since the 1970s has been a popular gay resort area. Korbel, a famous winery, is located in the town. Guerneville is built where the Russian River had an extra loop before an earthquake many thousands of years ago straightened things out. Redwoods grew in the riverbed with such vigor that just a few centuries ago, the valley had the greatest biomass density on the planet (according to local lore, anyway). The local Pomo indians used it as a summer camp and called it "Ceola" (Cee-Oh-Lay) which meant "shady place". Except for a handfull of truly ancient trees left over in the Fife Creek watershed (which are now the centerpiece of Armstrong Woods Park) they were all cut down in the 1800s, giving rise to the first English name for the place - "Stump Town". The annual town parade is still called the Stumptown Day Parade. There are still redwoods on the surrounding mountains, but they are not even two centuries old. For more on the history of the area, see John C. Schubert's "Guerneville Early Days", now out of print. Another book to try would be "Out of the River Mist". Modern Guerneville is an exceptional fusion of small town charm and cosmopolitanism. It has a plaza in the town center with permanent chess tables. It has two bridges, two traffic lights, two book stores, two thrift stores, one public library, one K-8 elementary school in its very own school district (making it exceptionally responsive to local needs), one dance club, and one Safeway. There are no fast food restaurants and about five gay bars. Johnson's Beach, an area along the Russian River used for fishing, bathing, and sunbathing, is located in the city's downtown area, is open to the public in the summers and (when not being used as a festival site) features free admission, free parking, and a concession stand with great sno-cones and hamburgers, run by the Harris family. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 12:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: CASONOMA Digest, Vol 1, Issue 2 Today's Topics: 1. Who was the founder of Guerneville, CA (Lorelei Rockwell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 15:50:15 -0700 From: "Lorelei Rockwell" <[email protected]> Subject: [CASONOMA] Who was the founder of Guerneville, CA To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi~ I'm new to the list and I have a Swiss friend who told me the founder of Guerneville was from the Jura in Switzerland. How can I find out if this is true and if it is, where can I look for data about the founder? I found a lot of data at Ancestry.com about an August Guerne, b Switzerland and in Sonoma County as early abt the 1870 census. Is he the founder of Guerneville? Thanks a bunch, Lorelei