Our Victorian Village
Ferndale in the late 1940s or the 1950s. Lloyd Stine photographed most of Humboldt County and HCHS has over 2,000 of his photos in our collection.
Today, the “Victorian Village of Ferndale” is one of the must-see spots for visitors to and residents of Humboldt County. Its history is worth looking at as well.
When the Gold Rush hit California in 1849 and ’50, fortune seekers poured into Humboldt County. Few actually made their fortunes in gold, but others established settlements to supply the mines, or turned to the wealth of timber, or took to farming the rich bottom lands of the Eel and nearby river valleys.
In 1852 three men, William Allen and the two Shaw brothers Seth and Steven, borrowed a canoe from resident Wiyots and paddled up the Eel and Salt rives to a small creek. They laid claim to the land there and began clearing dense fern thickets and built a cabin. That winter the cabin housed ten men, and two years later Seth Shaw had replaced it with a fine Victorian residence which he named Fern Dale. That house remains a landmark in modern Ferndale, but in its early days the building served as hotel, saloon, store and post office. The little town grew rapidly and by 1855 boasted 22 registered voters.
Seth Shaw continued living there, becoming a pillar of the growing community. Brother Steven, who had been part of the original ship entry into Humboldt Bay and who painted the portrait of Wiyot leader Kiwilota, now in the Clarke Museum, moved to San Francisco for a long career as a successful artist.
Settlers coming into the area did so largely for farming. Wheat and apple crops were grown, but dairy became the big industry. Creameries were established, and locally made butter and cheese were shipped to San Francisco and traveled by mule trains to inland communities. After a time, Ferndale came to be known as “Cream City”, and the Victorian mansions built by prosperous dairy farmers were called “Butterfat Palaces”.
Many of the area’s early settlers came from other dairy-intensive areas on the east coast as well as Scandinavia, Switzerland, Portugal and Italy. Developing quite an international population, the town soon hosted several nationality-based fraternal orders and festivals.
The question of transportation was central to Ferndale’s development. Early Indian and wildlife trails were supplemented by rough roads hacked out by the Shaw brothers and others. Products bound for the outside went by wagon to Centerville to catch a ship or traveled down the Salt River from nearby Port Kenyon. In 1880, Chinese laborers cut the winding Wildcat Ridge Road to the lower Mattole Valley thus ending the need for using the hazardous Centerville beach road
Isolation caused by the Eel River was overcome at first by ferries and low-water summer bridges. In 1911, Fernbridge was built – at the time the longest reinforced concrete bridge in the world. Even so, Ferndale remained distanced from the railway lines and highways that soon ran into Humboldt. This semi-isolation and lack of public transit led to a lack of development and urban renewal, thus preserving the Victorian architecture and small-town nature that later became the town’s major asset.
In its history, Ferndale did not escape its share of disasters. Photographs show the major damage it suffered in the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco and swept up the north coast. Similarly, in 1992, an earthquake crumbled facades and knocked buildings off their foundations. Ferndale’s proximity to the Eel River subjected it to flood damage, most dramatically in 1955 and 1964 when the town and nearby farms were inundated and cut off from the outside world.
But Ferndale has had its fun times too. It has been home to the Humboldt County Fair since 1896, and the nation’s tallest living Christmas tree has lit Ferndale’s holidays every year since 1934 (excluding World War II blackouts). The town hosts Fourth of July and other parades, ethnic festivals, and is the terminus for the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race initiated in 1969 by Ferndale sculptor Hobart Brown.
Due to its small town feel and preserved architecture, Ferndale has also appeared in television and movies from the 1940s on. Several films including Outbreak in 1995 and The Majestic in 2001 were made here, temporarily redoing certain facades and giving the locals a chance to mingle with stars and act as movie extras.
Ferndale in certainly a gem in Humboldt County’s past and present, and the Humboldt County Historical Society is proud to help preserve its history and all other aspects of our community story.