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Exploring Guerneville: My Neighborhood

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Neeley's Beach courtesy Anna Bever, from the Russian River Historical Society Collection, Sonoma County Public Library, ca. 1920 Our new property is in the Neeley Neighborhood which is midway between downtown Guerneville and an area known as Guernewood Park which is not to be confused with the area simply known as Guernewood. Our little neighborhood has three streets that parallel a curve in the Russian River. Closest to the river is Guernewood Road where we are, then Center Way and Neeley Road. A bit to the south is Neeley Hill and between our road and the river is a semi-private beach with a perfect place for swimming. Mr. Neeley deeded the beach for our neighborhood use years ago.   Russian River at Neeley neighborhood, 2021 Guerneville and Guernewood are named for George E. Guerne who was one the earliest pioneers in Guerneville. He bought John W. Bagley’s share of the first mill in about 1860 and continued to own and operate the lumber mill as Heald and Guerne, and under vario
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Exploring Guerneville: Cazadero

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Cazadero Community Church Today’s adventure was to Cazadero which is a few miles west of Guerneville along Highway 116 aka River Road. Many of the places we’ve driven around have involved steep, narrow hillsides so I was surprised that the drive to Cazadero is essentially level all the way to the small town. Beyond that, the road gets narrow and hilly but not as steep as in Rio Nido or the canyons on the norths side of the river. The town of Cazadero makes Guerneville look like a metropolis. According to the Wikipedia post, its population was 354 in 2010 and dropped to 340 by 2019. The town has one general store, an amazingly packed hardware store where I purchased bulbs for a desk lamp, an auto repair shop, the fire department and two churches. What the Wiki failed to mention is their fantastic yard full of antique service vehicles. This is not something that I would normally drive out of my way to see but for car buffs, it is worth the trip. Church entry framing the view Access to
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Exploring Guerneville - Redwood Memorial Garden Pioneer Park

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This angel adorns the Drake Family plot. We recently purchased a property in Guerneville and moved in on June 2, 2021. Now that the house is mostly settled, we’ve begun to explore our new environs. Today, we went to Redwood Memorial Garden Pioneer Park , the burial place of Guerneville’s early settlers. A sign near the entrance says the land was laid out by John W Bayley in 1878. It was deeded to the IOOF Redwood Lodge 281 in 1882 and is currently maintained by volunteers from the Russian River Historical Society. Headstones of America and Elizabeth Sutton The road to the cemetery is windy, steep and very narrow. The cemetery site is partly level but sloped in places with burial plots following the topography. Most of the plots in the historic section are defined by low curbs. As in all pioneer cemeteries, the types of headstones vary a lot from painted wooden crosses to elaborate, elevated, tombs with granite details and upright cherubs or angels. This simple, painted wood cross marks
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