Cloverdale

Cloverdale is worth visiting if only to stop at Ruth McGowan’s Pub. They make a very tasty pale ale, and the pub food is really good. Also, it is strategically placed between the bay area and points northward, making it optimal for lunchtime stopovers.

I moved to Cloverdale in 1994, when looking for safehaven from an abusive husband. I just moved away 4 months ago. Of course, I still miss it. It is a little town of much caring, and loving people. It is the place where I found out I could stand up on my own two feet and take care of my kids on my own.

Cloverdale has a great little museum there. Check out CloverdaleHistoricalSociety.org. I did the website, originally. Got an award for doing such a good job. Not bad for a county wide award. Cloverdale is in Sonoma County. It is the the town of the most northern point in the county. It sits at the beginning of the Redwood Empire (aka Redwood Trees), and at the heart of California’s wine country. One end is grapes, and another is ocean!

I was secretery on the board at the Historical Society. My family of old helped start a nearby town, Yorkville. Cloverdale Blvd. used to be West Street, it was and still is the “main drag”. It is a quaint little town with a “western” feeling to it.

Be sure to check out the Hamburger Ranch. Good food there! It is on the way to the coast where Highway 128 meets, Cloverdale Blvd. Or try Pick’s Drive Thru. They are still using the same recipies used in the 1940’s for their hamburger sauce! Take a look at the house on the First Street where Broad meets it. An old time Boat Captain used to own the propety and he planted the trees by the fence there over 100 years ago. The Russian River is very swimmable in right there off of First Street. I used to live on the corner of Fourth & Main, which at one time was part of a Dairy Farm.

Cloverdale doubled in size while I was there. It was interesting to watch the town grow. There are many, many memories in Cloverdale… and my heart will remain there forever… for I am truely, a California girl.