Camp Meeker is an unincorporated community, Sonoma County, United States, located on the Bohemian Highway, between

Occidental Occidental may refer to: * Western world (of or pertaining to) Places *Occidental, California, a town in Sonoma County, California, US * Occidental Park (Seattle) Other uses * Interlingue, a constructed language formerly known as Occidental * Oc ...

and

Monte Rio Monte Rio (Spanish: ''Monte Río'', meaning "River Mountain") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California along the Russian River near the Pacific Ocean. The town of Guerneville lies northeast of Monte Rio, and Jenner is to ...

. It has approximately 350 homes on properties ranging from a couple thousand square feet to many acres, some flat and sunny, some on steep narrow gauge railroad type one-way streets. The population hovers around 425. Set amidst

redwoods Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...

directly on

Dutch Bill Creek Dutch Bill Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 9, 2011 north-flowing stream in the hills of western Sonoma County, California, which empties into the Russi ...

, it gets an average of 55 inches of rainfall spread over about 69 average days during the winter season.

History

Camp Meeker takes its name from

Melvin Cyrus Meeker Melvin is a masculine given name and surname, likely a variant of Melville and a descendant of the French surname de Maleuin and the later Melwin. It may alternatively be spelled as Melvyn or, in Welsh, Melfyn and the name Melivinia or Melva may b ...

, a lumber baron who established several mills in the area c. 1866. Located on the North Pacific Coast Railroad (since abandoned), Camp Meeker was a center for logging the

coast redwoods ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus ''Sequoia (genus), Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast r ...

that built and then rebuilt San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. After logging the trees, Meeker subdivided Camp Meeker in 1898, and lots (each by with a one-room cabin) sold for $75. Around 1900, it was primarily a vacation place for people from San Francisco.

Facilities

Camp Meeker is the home of St. Dorothy's Rest, a retreat center and summer camp. Fire protection is provided by the Camp Meeker Volunteer Fire Department. In 2003, the department claimed that Camp Meeker was the only place in Sonoma County which places fire hydrants every . As of December 2001, one-year class wild coho salmon were spawning in Dutch Bill Creek. In 2002 Dutch Bill Creek was part of the captive broadstock program, and since 2006 juvenile coho have been released in the creek as a part of this program. In November 2009, Camp Meeker revamped its recreational park on Dutch Bill Creek by removing a

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing *Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance Ana ...

-era dam and installing a bridge in its place. The entire area was rebuilt b
PCI, Inc.
under contract with the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District after years of study. Before becoming a village Camp Meeker was a lumber town followed by a summer enclave with the year rounders and the summer folk.

References

External links

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Sonoma County, California