sonoma county history Archives

Some of the Kenwood pillow-fight artifacts collected by Pillowfight Coffee proprietors Joshua and Ashley Breinlinger. Photo taken at Pilllowfight Coffee in Kenwood Village on Highway 12 on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Robbi Pengelly / The Sonoma Index-Tribune)

These Amazing Sonoma County Feats Made It Into the Guinness World Records

October 2025

Here are all the Sonoma County people, places and traditions that have made it into the Guinness World Records.

Dan Lehrer, a co-owner of Little Apple Treats, has compared horticultural drawings of Sebastopol Gravenstein apples, this one from an orchard in Virginia in 1909, while researching the origins and spread of our beloved local fruit Thursday July 24, 2025. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)

Apple Growers Seek Answers About the Original Gravenstein

October 2025

A chance encounter reveals two very different apples with the same name. Is Sonoma County's Gravenstein apple the original or the imposter?

1/21/2012: B1: PC: Jamie Spaletta, prepares to take an order, Friday Jan. 20, 2012 at Volpi's Ristorante and Historical Bar in Petaluma. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2012

Historic Sonoma County Restaurants That Are Still Going Strong

July 2025

Some of these Sonoma County restaurants have been serving up epic meals for more than 100 years.

A Sonoma Home Founded on History and Art

February 2016

When Fred and Barbara White Perry purchased 4 acres that were once part of the historic Buena Vista Winery, established in 1857, they felt a huge responsibility to honor the land. Located inside the Buena Vista gate and with a view through the trees to Bartholomew Park Winery, they can imagine Agoston Haraszthy, the original […]

“He wrote books kids used to read and still have to read. That’s how many people get exposed to Jack London, and it’s pretty much all most people know about him. He wrote dog books.”

The Times of Jack London

January 2016

A century after his death, Jack London's legacy still thrives.