Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society

05/28/2026

Congratulations to these talented local students who won the Healdsburg Museum's Family History Essay contest this year. The list below shows who won 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes, plus Honorable Mentions in grades 3 - 8. Kudos to our outstanding educational committee, especially Educational Coordinator Phyllis Chiosso Liu and her team of retired teachers, who read and judged all the essays. Big thanks to Assistant Curator Lauren Villacorte for creating the essay books and Ed Liu for assisting with event set up.

This student essay contest has been funded for many years by Fred Gonzalez and the late Leota Gonzalez. We appreciate the Gonzalez family's generosity and support.

3rd
Remi Koseba
Callihan Hallgrimson
Layla Pearl Seghesio
Ellie Eggleston
Imogen Wilch
Reefy George Hallgrimson
Annabelle Reytek
Chloe Reytek

4th
Rose Grout
Niko Ramirez
Kassidy Munselle
Gigi Baldo
Adalind Tiscareno
Beatrice Beaman

5th
Raleigh Keneally
Grayson Juric
Oonah Van Keirsbilk
Abigail Sheehy
Cambria Mendez
Fabiola Barrientos Chavez

6th
Patrick Robinson
Preston Wilch
Jaymus Bushnell
Cyrus Titus
Grayson Richards

7th
Gino Tennyson
Stella Negri
Meena Chouteau
Joey Landeros
Christian Fogliani
Jackson Hagele

8th
Angel Gonzalez
Reiner Huetter
Isla Traverso
Elizabeth Grewer
David Landeros
Jane Pittenger

05/25/2026

On Memorial Day, we honor the lives and recognize the sacrifices of the men and women who served and died for this country. Thank you, American Legion Post 111, for the ceremony at Oak Mound Cemetery this morning and to Rick Tang for the photos.

05/24/2026

Visit the current Healdsburg Museum exhibition, "Healdsburg in the 1970s," to learn more about Larry Berner and the Briggs Initiative in Healdsburg.

Did you know that Healdsburg played a pivotal role in defeating the anti-gay Briggs Initiative in 1978? During this year's annual Pride Flag ceremony (6/1, 5:00) we will honor and remember Larry Berner (1940-1995) a Healdsburg 2nd grade teacher, who was thrust upon the political stage. He, along with a group of local activists, dramatically turned the tide against Proposition 6 which aimed to outlaw homosexual teachers in California. Please come help us celebrate Pride Month, raise the Pride flag, and take inspiration from this important episode in Healdsburg's history.
Join us on Monday 6/1 at City Hall. Events start right at 5pm.
🏳️‍🌈✊❤️☮️🏳️‍🌈
Your feedback is welcome. Email [email protected] -and request a phone call or meeting if you wish.

Why no comments here? On social media, the opportunity to discuss posts openly is far too often exploited by off-topic commenters. It’s unfair to everyone -plus a one-on-one conversation is inevitably more impactful. I would much rather connect individually. I hope to hear from you.

05/22/2026

Future Farmers Country Fair Twilight Parade 2026:

Rolling by the Healdsburg Museum, rocking our 50th anniversary of the Museum signs and 1970s outfits, in Ed Liu's beautiful Ford Stepside. Parade-watching party pictures to come.

Video: Ebba de la Rosa

05/21/2026

Today is the Future Farmers Country Fair Twilight Parade. We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Healdsburg Museum tonight with a parade watching party for Museum members, catered by Agavé and Noble Folk. We will also have a decorated Ford Stepside truck in the parade. Cheer when we go by!

05/20/2026

Healdsburg Museum Docents’ History Talks Start June 20

Don’t miss the fourth season of the Museum Docents’ History Talks starting 10 to 11:30 a.m., Saturday, June 20, at the Plaza Gazebo. The talks continue on Saturdays through Aug. 29.

Here are the upcoming topics:
Jun. 20 -- 1976: A Year to Remember
Long-Time Residents Tell Tales from 50 Years Ago
Joanne Taeuffer with Guest Speakers
Hear about our town in 1976 from a few people who remember it well. Joanne will interview
Jerry Eddinger, Eric Drew, Lew Sbrana and more long-time residents who were the movers and
shakers 50 years ago. And then we’ll ask you, the audience, to tell your stories from 1976.

Jun. 27 -- School Days
Teachers, Text Books and School Spirit
Steve Deas
Schools have long been institutions of key importance in Healdsburg. Steve Deas will look at the early
days of education, when farm kids got their basic education in in a one-room country school houses
and the Seventh Day Adventist community established Healdsburg College in the 1870s. Then he’ll
talk about more modern schools and their importance in the community. And we’ll ask the audience
to share their stories of favorite teachers, classroom hijinks and school spirit.

July 11 -- Three Pioneer Lives
Claire O’Neill, Nita Miller, Don Anderson
Learn about these Healdsburg pioneers all of whom shaped Healdsburg’s history in the aftermath of
the Gold Rush. Claire O’Neill will introduce you to Josefa Carrillo Fitch, who arrived after her
husband’s death and discovered that squatters were inhabiting much of the land her family owned
as the Rancho Sotoyome land grant. Harmon Heald was one of those squatters and a failed gold
seeker. The land he purchased from the Fitch family became the center of the town named for him.
And Roderick Matheson was a Scotsman, who came to the United States, found his way to
Healdsburg where he was a civic leader, and then met his death during the Civil War.

And More Topics coming this summer...

05/18/2026

The City of Healdsburg has announced the 2026 Tuesdays in the Plaza summer concert schedule. Save the Date, August 25th, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Healdsburg Museum with us in the Healdsburg Plaza with Neil Diamond tribute band, "Super Diamond."

05/17/2026

Hi, Everyone. The power was out at the Museum and parts of the City today, so we closed for the morning. The power was restored by noon, so the Museum reopened for the afternoon. Jane Guilfoy is in the gallery and she'd love to see you.

Open Wednesday through Sunday, 11-4.

05/16/2026

Today was a beautiful day for a community work day at Oak Mound Cemetery! Kudos to Susan Sheehy, Jim Dreisback and Meredith Dreisback for organizing the productive 3-hour cleanup, which started at 9:00 am. At noon, we took a break to enjoy a picnic lunch from Big John's Market, delivered by our Museum administrative coordinator Ebba de la Rosa. We were thrilled to have 25 community members show up to help, including Loretta and Jerry Strong from Kiwanis, a Smart Train employee, Vickie Rainwater-Joiner and descendants of the Frost and Warner families. Some folks brought their kids and grandkids. Everyone was impressed by the two days of advance work that crews from Jackson Family Farms and Geared for Growing had already accomplished.

I was thrilled to have Museum Board members Frances Schierenbeck, Clay Green and Patrick Mukaida there, plus Susan Sheehy. Assistant Curator Lauren Villacorte and I were volunteering on our day off because we love this project and it's important to us. I focused on the Smith Robinson family plot, the Wolff Rosenberg family plot, Edwin and Chrystal Langhart's plot, the Sadie Tombs Young plot, and June and Temple Smith's plot.♡
--- Holly Hoods, Executive Director/Curator

05/15/2026

Two days of w**d whacking at Oak Mound Cemetery has already made a world of difference! A heartfelt thank you to Jackson Family Farms and Geared for Growing for sending crews from their company to come help us help clean up Healdsburg's historic graveyard. (Name captions coming) Kudos to these generous businesses for their community support! ♡♡♡

This Saturday, May 16, is the day YOU are invited to finish the job in time for Memorial Day. We’ll have waters, sodas and sandwiches for everyone who shows up and works. We're going to be there from 9:00 am -1:00 pm. It's a fun and fulfilling way to spend Saturday morning.

601 Piper Street, behind the Boys and Girls Club.