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Feb 19
2009
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Nicasio historyPosted by Bruce Robinson in speaker , resources , Petaluma , history , farms , events , community |
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Marin County historian Dewey Livingston will talk about and sign his book about Nicasio at a special event at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 22, at 3 pm. The Library is located at 20 Fourth street, and the event is free. Information at (707) 788-4398 or info@petalumamuseum.com. You can see a video preview with Livingston below.
Once the most prominent building in the town, the Nicasio Hotel (above) was built in 1867, but was destroyed by fire in 1940.
Livingston's book about Nicasio, published last year by the Nicasio Historical Society , begins with the earliest known human presence in the valley. But here, as in many other places, the native people were displaced and treated badly by the new arrivals.
Today, the town of Nicasio (seen above approaching the town square) hosts its own website, which may come as a surprise to outsiders. In reseaching his book on the town and its denizens, Dewey Livingston says he also met with a couple of welcome surprises.
Below: the Tomasini Dairy Ranch at Nicasio, circa 1890.
Just about everyone agrees that preserving California's productive agricultural lands is a good idea, even if there have been some highly charged disagreements over the best means to accomplish that objective. Sidestepping these policy debates, California FarmLink is working directly with farming and ranching families to help them decide what they want to do with their lands from one generation to the next, as reported on today's North Bay Report:
Shrinking real estate values in California are prompting some ag families to re-evaluate their plans for their land. But Steve Schwartz, Executive Director of California FarmLink, says the shifting economic climate also holds some unexpected opportunities for new farmers to get established.