Eureka, Calif was founded in 1850 and has served as the service hub of the coastal region in the far northern most region of western California. It is the largest seaport between San Francisco and Portland. Eureka is also the capitol of the California’s REDWOOD EMPIRE, being surrounded by giant Redwood trees for a hundred miles to the North, two hundred miles to the South and 30 miles to the East, with the sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean on the West.
After the initial development in the 1850-1870 period, Eureka’s mission shifted from supplying gold miners in the rugged mountains to the East, and instead began to develop its many natural resources. The first issue was to get rid of some of the giant Redwood trees that dominated the region, so that the sun could reach the ground. Once that was done, the traditional vocations of cattle ranching, farming, dairying, orcharding etc. could take place. Then came the development of Oyster farming in Eureka’s Humboldt Bay, and other fishing industries, Salmon being the dominate species.
While all this was taking place other men, loggers from the East, were trying to figure out how they could translate the giant Redwood trees into a marketable product. The Redwood trees were ten to twenty times wider and taller than anything they had ever encountered in the forests of Michigan, Maine, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc. Much had to be done to invent solutions to the enormous problems these giant trees presented to the technology of the 1870′s.
But eventually solutions were found and soon an industry was developed that, like its giant trees, dwarfed all other industries of the region. The sawmills buzzed for a hundred years, sending sawn lumber from these 1,000 year old trees on lumber sailing schooners (built here locally at the Bendixen Shipyard) to Ports-of-Call around the world; but mainly to San Francisco, and Portland where they helped build those two cities into their own Victorian identities.
Isolated and remote from the rest of California, Eureka developed quite independent from the rest of the state. Because it had no road access to the outside world until 1924, its architectural base and housing stock remained steeped in it’s Victorian past and endured past the prosperity that caused much of California to tear down it’s past in order to build it’s future. As the energetic economy of California leaped forward into high-gear, Eureka languished in its past, changing little, if any. It has always lingered 20 years behind the rest of California. As someone once said, “It was protected by poverty”. Today, with thousands of Victorian homes from the 1860′s through the 1910 period, Eureka has retained much of its historical integrity, correctly reflecting its monocle as “A Victorian Seaport”.
Today, a Eureka Bed and Breakfast, or historic housing like “Abigail’s Elegant Victorian Mansion” (www.Eureka-California.com) is one way to experience the rich grandeur of these grand manors.
As mentioned earlier, the first road coming into Eureka from the outside world came in 1924. And with that connecting link to outside influences, a new era in architecture reach Eureka. In vogue throughout the San Francisco and Los Angeles regions, the new ARTS & CRAFTS movement of the Green and Green style CRAFTSMAN home now began being build throughout Eureka and the areas surrounding it. Today Eureka is still filled with hundreds of the Craftsman Style homes. It is the second most prevalent architectural style in Eureka, after the dominate Victorians. A Eureka Bed and Breakfast gives you a chance to see these wonderful architectural treasures up close.
By California pricing standards, while otherwise high by national average, Eureka, California offers as good a housing buy as anywhere in California. But it has some additional assets that add greatly to the value of buying an old house. And those assets are the life-style of the Humboldt Bay region. Being far removed from the hustle and bustle of the rest of California, Eureka (while a small town – population: 29,000) has the benefit of Humboldt State University and the College of the Redwoods for its education; it has an Opera company, a ballet company, a Symphony Orchestra, and three acting theatre companies as the base for its cultural enrichment. It is surrounded by vast regions of giant Redwoods in its many National, State, County and City parks. Eureka itself has a 50 acre Redwood Park, Zoo and Botanical Gardens, within its city boundaries. Beyond the hundreds of miles of hiking trails in its Redwood parks, there are countless opportunities for river and stream fishing, as well as ocean charter fishing in the Pacific Ocean. Whitewater rafting, canoeing and gold mining in the rivers also offers fun for many. Eureka’s Humboldt Bay is home to many scullers, sailboats and motor craft, in addition to its many commercial fishing vessels. For the outdoorsman, this is paradise. For the cultural aficionado this is paradise. For the family that is looking for a quiet, laid-back slow pace of ‘old-time’ living, this is paradise.
All of this and much more is all without the crowded, congested push and shove of modern cities. Eureka is a long, long way from those things. There are people who long for the excitement, the drama, the energy of the Big City Life. It is not to be found in Eureka. But for many, the Greek term for “I have found it ! ” lays in a peaceful and relaxing visit to Eureka, California with it’s famous Victorian homes, Redwood forests and it’s stunning coastline of the Pacific Ocean.
This entry was written by Doug Vieyra of Abigail’s Elegant Victorian Mansion
