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Kitchen Table Kibitzing August 11, 2024 [1]

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Date: 2024-08-11  

Cemetery Tours

Many of you know that every month during summer we join docent-led tours of the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery. We’ve learned many of stories related to burials, some tragic, some heroic, and many ordinary. The most tragic I’ll leave for another time; there’s enough tragedy in today’s world as it is.

Massive redwood forests grew along the Russian River for thousands of years. In the late 19th century these trees began to be logged. I once saw a photo of that time. Trees with diameters of 20 feet grew so thickly that there was barely space to walk between them. I was told it was probably the largest concentrated biomass ever on earth.

In 1867 Thomas H. Stone and A. E. Laude established claims on 240 acres of valley property 3 miles north of Guerneville (formerly Stumptown). This property and 200 adjoining acres were eventually consolidated under the ownership of Colonel James Boydston Armstrong in 1875. Armstrong’s business ventures were many, and one of them involved him in the Guerneville lumber boom of the 1870’s. Armstrong logged and also owned and operated a sawmill site north of Guerneville.

As our docent explained, he realized that soon enough there would be no trees left, so he worked to preserve some. In 1878, Armstrong made a gift deed of 440 acres to his daughter, Kate Armstrong. He was ridiculed by some….the trees were money in the bank; why save them? Through family efforts plus volunteers, acreage was added, and The grove was opened to the public as Armstrong Redwoods State Park in 1936. It is now one of our county’s treasures, at 800 acres. Muir Woods, in Marin County, had a similar history, but is only 500 acres.

Colonel James Boydston Armstrong and his family are buried at the cemetery, and there is an appropriate monument/headstone to mark the grave of this hero and his family.

Good advice from Mark Knopfler (when he was playing with The Notting Hillbillies).

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