‘History Talks’ Program Opens In the Plaza Saturday June 21

HEALDSBURG– The Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society Docents’ “History Talks” program returns to the Plaza this summer from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays June 21 to Aug. 23 with new illustrated talks about our town’s history presented by a team of 12 Museum docents and six guest speakers.

The first program, Saturday, June 21, will be “Stories Behind the Structures,” exploring some of Healdsburg’s rich architectural heritage. Docent and architectural historian Frances Schierenbeck will present “What Style Is It?,” an introduction to the building styles seen around town. Docent Don Anderson will present “Title of the Talk,” telling how older buildings have reinvented themselves to remain relevant as the town has changed.

Topics for these casual talks all summer are chosen by the docents, who each bring their own point of view. Since docents are long-time town residents, they often share personal remembrances of “old Healdsburg.”

“All the docents have studied Healdsburg history,” said History Talks chairperson Joanne Taeuffer. “And many of us ARE Healdsburg history.”

Some of this summer’s topics with a first-hand touch will be:

• July 19 – Coming to Healdsburg, Italian Style. Joe Pelanconi will tell stories of their Italian relatives life in the area. Get something more specific.
• Booms, Busts and A 40-Year Doom-Loop (July 26). Longtime Healdsburg businessman Eric Drew will give a first-hand account of the economic downturn precipitated by the freeway bypass and the city’s redevelopment efforts that led to new prosperity in the new century. I was Co chair of the Chamber of Commerce 'visitor and tourist' committee in the early 1980's and did a lot of effort to ''Think big' to capture wine Country tourism in 1981-1983
• Pioneer Wine & Agriculture Families (Aug. 2). Three members of pioneer Healdsburg families and wine makers – Julie Seghesio Neumiller, Susan Young Sheehy and Louis Foppiano – will tell the stories of how their families came here, grew grapes and prunes, survived prohibition and flourished in the wine kdjkdjdljlk
• Maybe annals with jim and merediith.
• Lumber Industry My grandfather moved the family to Healdsburg without much more of a plan than that he liked the town, especially the plaza. Within a month, he was contacted by the owner of a sawmill that had burnt down. He needed all the motors repaired and had heard that my grandfather might be available. He was anxious to get his mill back up and running and my grandfather was ready, willing, and able to do just that. The idea was that this one project would allow him to retire but instead it launched our family business. The lumber industry is mostly gone but we are still here, 70 years later.
• When Prunes Were King (Aug. 16.) This will be a look at the prune industry through the eyes of Joanne Taeuffer, who grew up on a prune farm, picked prunes every summer and lived to tell about it, and Don Mitchell, whose father was the manager of Sunsweet Growers and later worked at Purity Chemical selling spray and other farm chemicals to all the prune farmers in town.

For a detailed schedule of topics and dates, check out https://www.healdsburgmuseum.org/history-talks-in-the-plaza

The HMHS Docents, who host the History Talks, is a group of 18 volunteers formed three years ago to help meet a Museum goal to “take history out into the community.”

The group started the program as informal docent-researched talks under a tent on the lawn at the Plaza in summer 2023. The program grew in 2024 to include more topics, slideshows and a sound system on the Plaza Gazebo. In 2025 it will expand by including guest speakers who bring their own personal stories to add to the docents’ tales.

The style of history in the Museum History Talks is story-telling with a personal touch. The docents often suss out a twist to the tale. The informal program format welcomes participation and sometimes the best old-time stories come from the long-time residents in the audience.