Valley Ford is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) in western
Sonoma County
Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa.
Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...
, California, United States. It is located on
State Route 1 north of San Francisco. Like all of Sonoma County, Valley Ford is included in both the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
and the
Redwood Empire
The North Coast of California (also called the Redwood Empire or the Redwood Coast in reference to the dense redwood forests throughout the region) is a region in Northern California that lies on the Pacific coast between San Francisco Bay and th ...
.
The village lies just north of
Americano Creek
Americano Creek is a long westward-flowing stream in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin. It flows into the Estero Americano, a long estuary, and thence to the Pacific Ocean. This article covers both watercourses.
Course
Americano ...
, about from the Pacific Ocean. It is north of
Dillon Beach, California
Dillon Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, United States. It is located west of Tomales, at an elevation of . The population was 246 at the 2020 census. Dillon Beach was named after the founder, George Dillon, ...
, east of
the town of Bodega Bay and southeast of
Jenner, California
Jenner, also known as Jenner-by-the-Sea, is a small coastal town and census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, United States, with a population of 122 per the 2020 Census. It is located on the Pacific coast near the mouth of th ...
. The Estero Americano is protected by the
Estero Americano State Marine Recreational Management Area.
History
For millennia, the indigenous
Coast Miwok
The Coast Miwok are an Indigenous people of California that were the second-largest tribe of the Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of present-day Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golde ...
and
Pomo people
The Pomo are a Indigenous peoples of California, Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to ...
have hunted, fished and gathered in the area.
A Miwok village named ''Ewapalt'' has been documented in the Valley Ford area.
Europeans explored the coastline in the early 17th century but did not settle until 1812, when Russian
fur trader
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
s came south from
Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
and built
Fort Ross
Fort Ross (, , Kashaya: ) is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America in what is now Sonoma County, California. Owned and operated by the Russian-American Company, it was the hub of the southernmost Russian settlemen ...
about northwest of Valley Ford. The Russians remained until 1841, when the area came under Mexican rule.
In September 1850, California became a US state, the area was made part of Sonoma County.
Valley Ford had a
grain mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separate ...
in the 1850s. Starting in the 1876, Valley Ford was a stop on the
North Pacific Coast Railroad
The North Pacific Coast Railroad (NPC) was a common carrier narrow-gauge steam railroad begun in 1874 and sold in 1902 to new owners who renamed it the North Shore Railroad (California) (NSR) and rebuilt the southern section into a standard-ga ...
connecting
Cazadero Cazadero may refer to:
* Cazadero (volcano), a mountain in Argentina
* Cazadero, California, U.S.
* Cazadero, Oregon, U.S.
* Cazadero Dam, a dam in the U.S. state of Oregon
See also
*
{{disambiguation, geo ...
to the
Sausalito
Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sausalito's p ...
ferry, enabling local ranchers and fishers to export produce to San Francisco.
In 1976,
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks a ...
's installation art piece ''
Running Fence
''Running Fence'' was an installation art piece by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which was completed in California on September 10, 1976. The art installation was first conceived in 1972, but the actual project took more than four years to plan an ...
'' passed through Valley Ford on its way from
Cotati to
Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay () is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Rosa, California, S ...
.
Open from 1856 to 1967,
Watson School once served as Valley Ford's school, and is located in a
Sonoma County Regional Parks Department
Sonoma may refer to:
* ''Sonoma'' (beetle), a genus of beetles
* Sonoma County, California, a county in northern California in the United States
** Sonoma, California, the city for which the county is named
** Sonoma Valley, the region in Sonoma ...
historic park about 3.5 miles north of Valley Ford.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the CDP covers an area of 2.6 square miles (6.8 km), all of it land.
Demographics
The population at the
2020 United States census was 148.
The population density was . The racial makeup of Valley Ford was 102 (68.9%)
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0 (0.0%)
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 2 (1.4%)
Native American, 2 (1.4%)
Asian, 0 (0.0%)
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 23 (15.5%) from
other races, and 19 (12.8%) from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino
''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...
of any race were 38 persons (25.7%).
The whole population lived in households. There were 53 households, out of which 12 (22.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 31 (58.5%) were married-couple households, 6 (11.3%) were
cohabiting
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...
couple households, 8 (15.1%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 8 (15.1%) had a male householder with no partner present. 11 households (20.8%) were one person, and 4 (7.5%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.79.
[ There were 33 ]families
Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
(62.3% of all households).[
There were 60 housing units at an average density of , of which 53 (88.3%) were occupied. Of these, 46 (86.8%) were owner-occupied, and 7 (13.2%) were occupied by renters.][
]
Nitrates in Groundwater
Warnings of high nitrate levels associated with surrounding dairy ranches have led some residents to drink, cook and even bathe with bottled water. Some dining establishments have resorted to relying on water delivered from Petaluma. In early 2017, the State Water Resources Control Board issued a warning that pregnant women and infants younger than 6 months should not consume the town's well water. The warning also cautioned against boiling, freezing or filtering the water.
Businesses
Valley Ford is home to antique stores, art galleries, curio shops and restaurants:
Valley Ford Hotel
one of the few remaining buildings dating from the 19th century, now houses Rocker Oysterfeller's Kitchen & Saloon and six guest rooms.
West County Design
a gallery for wood tables, polished concrete and other products of Sonoma County artisans,.
The Valley Ford Market features the regionally well-known Batemon's Meats.
Valley Ford Construction Corporation
Valley Ford Construction Corporation, General Engineering.
* The headquarters of capo manufacturer Shubb is also in Valley Ford.
* Carolyn's Canvas manufactures a variety of canvas goods.
Education
It is in the Shoreline Unified School District.[ ]
Text list
/ref>
References
7
Bucolic Valley Ford faces water problems linked to dairies
External links
{{authority control
Census-designated places in Sonoma County, California
Unincorporated communities in California
Census-designated places in California
Unincorporated communities in Sonoma County, California