Friday, July 10, 2020
The Gift ~ Filmed At Daniels School!!!
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Daniels School Restoration Open House Celebration: Memorable Moments ~ September 17th, 2016
Friday, July 15, 2016
Mark Your Calendars For The Daniels School Open House Celebration!!!
Great News!
Phase 2 of the restoration is underway!
Our sincerest thanks to the SONOMA COUNTY LANDMARKS COMMISSION for a 2nd grant of $15,100, and to all the individuals and businesses for their donations to the project.
Presently donating labor with a deadline!:
Dan Harbin- (Midstate Construction)
Mark Rogers -Mark A Rogers Construction
Richard Colombini - Colombini Construction
OPEN HOUSE CELEBRATION HONORING FORMER STUDENTS
Saturday September 17, 2016
1:30pm - 4:00pm
Meet former student -Stewart Wade of Hawaii- age 101
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO FINISH ON TIME!!!
Call Bonnie (707)-433-3301
Visit our blog: danielsschool.blogspot.com
Donations: Venado Historical Society - 8000 Mill Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA 95448
or EMAIL GlORIA - eggerpropmgnt@hotmail.com
If you WILL OR MAY BE attending the Open House
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2016
1:30pm - 4:30pm
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE !
Restoration celebration nears for one-room school near Healdsburg!
“It’s a big thing for me to think my school is still there,” Wade said last week by telephone from Kailua, Oahu.
The 133-year-old Daniels School on Mill Creek Road has slowly been restored over the past 15 years with the help of volunteers and donations, although there is still plenty of work to be done prior to the Sept. 17 dedication.
But the end is in sight.
“At last we can see the end to this restoration project and we are really looking forward to a big celebration and this open house to honor former students and people who were so generous with donations and their time,” said Bonnie Cussins Pitkin, 72, an alumna who spearheaded the restoration.
One-room schoolhouses once were common in rural areas across the country, including Sonoma County, where a survey a century ago counted 120 of them. Today only a handful survive.
Children came from miles around on foot or horseback, from surrounding countryside that was successively logged for giant redwoods and mined for magnesite before a tanbark industry took hold, along with vineyards, and prune and apple orchards.
Former students remember the pot belly stove they used for warmth on rainy days and the water bucket filled from a nearby stream they all shared because there was no running water.
Wade, a sharp-minded centenarian who still works part time as a real estate agent and swims three times a week in the ocean, recalls how he and other boys trapped raccoons near the school and sold them for $3 per pelt.
Sometimes they caught skunks and “the school stunk from that,” he said. “Kids would take guns to school,” part of a hunting culture when it wasn’t out of the ordinary to carry a .22 rifle in the woods. Wade went through all eight grades, from 1921 to 1929, and later graduated from Healdsburg High in 1933.
He credits his longevity to “exercise and attitude.”
“He doesn’t let anything bother him. He’s not a Type A person,” said his wife, Ceci, who also will attend the rededication of the school.
Pitkin attended Daniels School as a first-grader just before it closed in 1951.
Pikin’s family owned the school until donating the 16-by-26-foot building and a half-acre around it to the Venado Historical Society, which draws its name from the surrounding community established in the early 1900s.
Last year, restoration efforts regained momentum with a $14,500 grant from the Sonoma County Landmarks Commission, coupled with donations and volunteer work.
A new roof and windows were installed. Now cedar siding donated by Healdsburg Lumber Co. is being put up.
Mark Rogers, a Santa Rosa contractor who is donating his time on the project, said he can use help. Skilled or semi-skilled help would be great, but he is willing to train anyone who wants to assist.
“If they can hold the end of a board or tape measure, or they have skills with painting — any level of knowledge — if they want to learn, come out and do that,” he said.
He said the building still needs to be weather-proofed, along with electrical work, insulation and dry wall.
Regardless of whether all the work gets completed by then, Pitkin vowed the Sept. 17 celebration will go on.
“We will have the opening, whether it’s finished or not,” she said.
More information on how to volunteer or donate to the project is available at danielsschool.blogspot.com.
Link to original article in the Press Democrat:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5800198-181/restoration-celebration-nears-for-one-room?artslide=0
CLARK MASON
Monday, July 13, 2015
Restoration effort resumed for 132-year-old Daniels School in Venado!!!
BY CLARK MASON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
June 29, 2015, 2:27PM
Bates, 90, sat outside the 132-year-old Daniels School on Mill Creek Road last week recalling those halcyon days.
By 1903, the resident population dwindled and the school shut down for lack of pupils. But it reopened four years later and was rechristened in honor of Ray A. Daniels, a primary mover and shaker in re-establishing the school.
Fruit ranching and the tanbark industry brought new purpose, people and prosperity to upper Mill Creek, according to Hoods.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Daniels School In The Healdsburg Tribune!
Daniels School Restoration Proceeding In Rural Healdsburg
The Daniels School, a one-room schoolhouse built in the 1800s, is receiving a thorough restoration by a dedicated group of former students and history buffs.
Bonnie Cussins-Pitkin is leading the current phase of the restoration, which was begun by her former third grade teacher, Flora May Caletti, a dozen years ago.
Cussins-Pitkin and other Daniels School supporters formed the Venado Historical Society and were able to set aside a half acre along Mill Creek Road as a historic district.
By: Ray Holley, Managing Editor
Posted: Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Daniels School Update: May, 2015!!!
Sitting on the porch of the Daniels School, I was waiting for delivery of windows. I glanced around to see the pastel pink buds of the old rose bush on the corner of the porch. Then I remembered the wedding we had in a play held in the Spring of l951. Richard Tabor was the only other 1st grader and he was the groom. The students threw rose petals at us as we walked down the steps and walkway..
I cherish that joyful memory of the past, but the jubilation I feel in the present is beyond compare. At last work has commenced on the restoration of Daniels School again.
Many thanks to Mike Flowers owner, Oak Shadows Construction, who has volunteered his time. The framing inside is complete, including the "sistering in" whenever possible to preserve the old redwood, and we can look up outside at the new shake roof with pride.
Sincerest thanks to Eric Dietrich of the Healdsburg Lumber Company for the generous reduction on lumber costs as well as the windows from Hudson Street Design.
The flagpole, restored to white again stands amongst a patch of yellow Diogenes Lanterns. These and the Redwood Orchid are among the many wildflowers we collected, identified and drew. The teacher displayed the art work above the windows and I was amazed at the fine detail, color and likeness in every petal to those we had collected. These memories in the school and down by the creek, where the teacher read to us, come back to me as I watch the restoration unfold.
Most of all, we wish to thank the Sonoma County Landmarks Commission for their grant funds, as well as the many dedicated and generous donors who have continued to support this project over the years. We will be applying again to the Landmarks Commission for Phase 2 of the project, but will move forward to continue the project as monies and volunteer time allow.
TOGETHER WITH YOU, WE ARE NOT ONLY SAVING SONOMA COUNTY HISTORIC LANDMARK #186, WE ARE SAVING A PIECE OF HISTORY AND THE STORIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED AND WORKED IN THE TOWN OF VENADO ON MILL CREEK ROAD.
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!
Sincerely,
Bonnie Cussins-Pitkin, President
Gloria Egger, Treasurer
Thursday, February 12, 2015
13.68 Inches Of Rain Falls On Little-Known North Bay Town During Latest Storm!
VENADO, Sonoma County (KPIX 5) – The Bay Area received some impressive rain over the last few days. One of the wettest spots is a place many people probably haven’t heard of.
Venado, located west of Healdsburg, received 13.68 inches of rain since Thursday.
“Out Mill Creek Road about nine miles is Venado,” resident Bonnie Pitkin told KPIX 5.
Go searching for the town, you won’t find too much. The homesteaders, miners and loggers are long gone, leaving a handful of quiet neighbors living in hand-built houses.
“As you can see, there’s very little activity, very little traffic, which we appreciate a lot,” said Venado resident Bob Alpern.
But Venado does get a lot of one thing, and that is rain, which finally returned over the weekend.
“It stormed like you couldn’t imagine,” Pitkin recalled.
Alpern said about the storm, “And I mean this was rain like, I call it biblical rain. A deluge like you’ve never seen.”
And that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be here. Venado is tucked in a set of steep hills that are perfectly positioned to the catch low-level moisture that pacific storms bring in. These mountains wring out the storms like a washcloth.
The evidence of that phenomenon literally hangs from the trees.
“We’re at the edge of what’s called the Cazadero rain forest,” Alpern said.
But even in this perfect bull’s eye for wet weather, the drought has taken its toll.
“On my mother’s ranch, there are two springs, and they both went completely dry,” Pitkin said.
When the skies finally opened, and creeks started flowing, quiet Venado just got back to normal.
“Everyone that you could talk to around here will say that it was such a welcome sight. To see the rain and to see the creek running full, it’s just exciting. The rain has made all the difference,” Pitkin said.
Friday, September 19, 2014
2014 Project Update!!!
This will allow us to begin Phase 1 of the project which is to secure the building. We will restore and rebuild, (as needed) the exterior including rafters, roof, windows, and some of the siding.
Special thanks go to several professionals who donated their time and expertise to fulfill the requirements for the grant proposal:
Dennis Fagent ~ Engineer
Obie Bowman ~ Architect
Holly Hoods ~ Historian
Pete Deidrich ~ Architect
& Healdsburg Lumber
The project will begin according to our contractor's schedule. We greatly appreciate his offer to volunteer his labor for this historic restoration project.
If you are interested in donating time or funds to help with this worthy local project, please send your donations or correspondence to:
Venado Historical Society
8000 Mill Creek Road
Healdsburg, CA 95448
707.431.3301
Sincerely,
Bonnie Cussins-Pitkin, President & Gloria Egger, Treasurer
Monday, March 11, 2013
2013 Update!
- The decision was made to acquire a grant (s) in order to obtain the $30,000 to $40,000 needed to complete the restoration of the school.
- Gloria attended a grant writing class at SRJC
and began the lengthy process of applying for the Federal and State Exemption
Status, which is a requirement of foundations or corporations who award grants.
- An attorney was secured, who reduced his fee, after seeing all the paperwork and endless forms Gloria had completed. All request forms have been filed with the U.S. Treasury and State and now we have a waiting period of up to six (6) months.
- In the interim, Gloria will research foundations that may be interested in the project and then grant forms will be prepared.
Venado Historic Society
7751 A Mill Creek Road,
Healdsburg, Ca. 95448