Cloverdale Eyed For Utopian Community

CLOVERDALE, CA—The 266-acre Alexander Valley Resort property in the Northern California wine country city of Cloverdale is being considered for a planned walkable community called Esmeralda.

Before purchasing the property, the Esmeralda Land Company is conducting due diligence to ensure its development vision is feasible for both the city and Esmeralda.

According to its website, the Esmeralda Land Company team has met with Cloverdale’s city manager, the mayor and all five council members to understand their hopes for the property and build upon the city’s vision, including the hotel.

"We started to reach out to key city leaders over a year ago, and we’ve been delighted by the positive response we’ve received from locals," wrote Devon Zuegel, leader of the Esmeralda movement. "We’re now deep in the diligence phase. If it continues to go well, we will proceed with purchasing the property!"

The concept for Esmeralda is inspired by Chautauqua, New York. Zuegel's grandparents had a house there, and she spent summers there during her childhood.

During the summer season, the Chautauqua Institute transforms the community into a college-like campus with a nine-week schedule of lectures and classes.

Chautauqua sprang up during the Industrial Revolution and attracted great American inventors and entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, who spent summers there with their families. It is said that Chautauqua's main hotel was the first to be lit by an Edison bulb.

"Our vision for Esmeralda is to build a year-round community that takes the best parts of Chautauqua and updates it with the Bay Area’s dynamism, diversity, and culture of invention," Zuegel said.

Chautauqua was built through what Zuegel calls the "ladder of commitment. " The community began as a temporary gathering in 1874. Everyone camped in tents, and as people returned year after year, a permanent town sprouted up.

"We’ve followed this same playbook by organizing a 'pop-up village' called Edge Esmeralda, as a prototype for the village we are building."

In June, the pop-up attracted some 1,300 people to Healdsburg, a Sonoma County city neighboring Cloverdale, for 30 days of a "modern-day, ephemeral Chautauqua," Zuegel said. Another gathering is planned for May 2025 in Healdsburg.

Zueguel's vision for Esmeralda is also inspired by "Invisible Cities," a book by Italian writer Italo Calvino. Esmeralda is one of the fictional cities in the book.

"If you dream of living in a small town while being surrounded by creative, high-agency people, we’re building this for you," Zuegel wrote on X. " Two key components will make Esmeralda special: 1. Our "hardware" – an Italian hill town. 2. Our "software" – a culture of learning & building."

"Very Different From The California Forever Project"

Esmeralda, Zuegel said, should not be confused with another North Bay project called California Forever, which is on the November ballot as the East Solano Homes, Jobs, and Clean Energy Initiative

"Esmeralda is not related to California Forever, and our project is very different from their proposal," she said. "They are building a large new city built from scratch in a rural, unincorporated area; we are creating a new neighborhood inside the boundaries of an existing incorporated city, on a former industrial site. The political and social context couldn’t be more different."