Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society

06/17/2026

One hundred years ago, Healdsburg residents literally slid into summer at Merryland Beach, now "Healdsburg Veterans Memorial Beach." The Russian River was temporarily dammed to create deep water for swimming, diving, fishing and boating in summer. The deep water was known as "Lake Sotoyome" and the structure in the photo was the "Toboggan Slide." The slide, which was only up from 1926 - 1929, ended up in Santa Cruz.

Photo: Lake Sotoyome (Russian River) at Healdsburg, 1928. Photographer unknown

06/16/2026

Join the Healdsburg Museum docents for a History Talk about Healdsburg in 1976 this Saturday at 10:00am in the Plaza. Then come check out the "Healdsburg in the 1970s" exhibition at the Museum.

06/16/2026

Just got the cutest collection of handmade thank-you cards from kids in Colleen Flores's class at Alexander Valley School. They recently toured the Museum on a field trip. The students expressed appreciation to Phyllis Chiosso Liu, our educational outreach coordinator, and illustrated what they enjoyed learning. My favorite thank-you came from Bailey who loved learning how (Museum founder) Edwin Langhart "found" the Museum. ♡

06/15/2026

Happy Flag Day! Did you know that Flag Day commemorates the day in 1777 when the Continental Congress officially adopted the design for the first American flag? In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson established the date of June 14 as Flag Day.

Photo: Nina Luce, Healdsburg 1916

06/13/2026

The Healdsburg Museum joins the City of Healdsburg in celebrating June as Pride Month. Our current exhibition, "Healdsburg in the 1970s," highlights some fascinating individuals and events in local history that you may not know about. Discover how the community of Healdsburg played a pivotal role in defeating the anti-gay Briggs Initiative in 1978. Visit the Museum to learn about Larry Berner, the Healdsburg elementary school teacher, who, along with a group of local activists, led the fight against Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative, which sought to ban gay teachers in California.

Visit the Healdsburg Museum 11-4:00, Wednesday through Sunday.

Photos of Museum by Noah Jeppson. Additional photos of Museum exhibition and City Hall flags by Holly Hoods.

06/12/2026

We just hosted a lively Chamber of Commerce mixer at the Museum. We had fun and delicious time, enjoying Longboard wines and savory goodies made by Costeaux Bakery and Patrick Mukaida. Nice to see old friends, meet new people and network with local business folks. We had about 65 guests, several of whom had never visited the Museum. We enjoyed many compliments from people who hadn't seen our recently remodeled gallery or 1970s exhibition. Kudos to Board members Fred Eisenhart, Frances Schierenbeck, Deb Kravitz, Susan Sheehy, Corey Rawdon, Eric Drew, Patrick Mukaida and Mark McMullen for helping us create a friendly, welcoming event that everyone seemed to love. We even added two new members!

The door prize-- a 1970s-style picnic bucket and bottle of wine from Coppola-- was won by S'ra Albion Black from MacRostie Wines. Congratulations!

06/05/2026

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.
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