Forestville

There are no motels in Forestville. The only tourist lodging in its sphere of influence is down on River Road. Highway 116 passes through on its way to Guerneville, but it is the least-traveled of the two main routes to the river resorts. There are a couple of restaurants and one walk-up, drive-in that fairly screams "The Fifties.''

The town took its name from Forrister, who bought 100 acres of the rancho in 1866 and filed a plat map of a town, called Forrestville, in 1869. There doesn't seem to be a ready explanation for the discrepancy in spelling, or for what happened to the second R, for that matter.

It was first chairs, and then trains that put the town on the map. Major Isaac Sullivan, the first settler in Green Valley, near Graton, made the first chairs of split oak with deer hide seats. In the 1860s, Samuel Faudre established an actual factory in Forestville. His chairs, now collectors' pieces, are unmistakeable, made from live oak, mountain ash, alder, chestnut and fir with latticed rawhide strips for seats.

The electric train, which extended tracks to Forestville in 1905, hauled apples to the packing sheds in Sebastopol and cherries and berries to the cannery in Santa Rosa. And it hauled passengers, on its interurban trolleys, from Green Valley to the larger towns -- ranchers to do their courthouse business, housewives to shop, older students to go to high school, business college or later, junior college.

The train was purchased by Northwestern Pacific in 1932 and passenger service was stopped in '35. The 30 years prior might be considered Forestville's glory days.

The unincorporated town of Forestville is located 15 miles northwest of Santa Rosa, California and 70 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Logging operations flourished in the areas where Guerneville and Korbel Vineyards are located today, bringing the railroad across western Sonoma County. A stylish resort community arose along the Russian River. Forestville became a popular train stop for loggers and vacationers making the rugged journey from Santa Rosa to Stumptown, now known as Guerneville. Today, Forestville is a meeting place of the old and the new, with ancient redwood stands, world-class vineyards, and pristine recreational sites.

The peaceful splendor of this area and the personal warmth of its people have attracted a broad cross-section of writers, artists, craftspeople, educators, and entrepreneurs. Forestville's diverse businesses range from small mom-and-pop stores and independent contractors to world-famous vineyards...and even a multi-national software publisher.