Description
This is a wonderful piece of Sonoma County history: an authentic, vintage, large-format 1935 map of the Bohemian Grove, the legendary private retreat along the Russian River near Monte Rio. Far more than a general geographical map, it is essentially a working plan of the Grove itself, identifying roads, foot trails, bridges, gates, club facilities and individual camps. Among the features shown are the Main Gate, Civic Center, Dining Circle, Fire Circle, Shrine, hospital, clubhouse, Russian River swimming pool, Smith Creek, Camp Bromley, Aviary Camp and numerous other structures and locations. A keyed guide gives routes and distances for trails throughout the property, and the map specifically states that it was “corrected to June 1, 1935.”
Nearly ninety years later, the map has become an extraordinary visual record of the physical landscape of one of Northern California’s most storied private institutions. But what I particularly like about this example is that you don’t have to care about the mythology surrounding the Bohemian Grove to appreciate it: it is simply a terrific piece of vintage California cartography. At roughly 18 × 24 inches, it is large enough to frame beautifully, and for a Sonoma County business, restaurant, hotel, winery, bar, office—or anyone with a connection to the Russian River and Monte Rio—it would make one hell of a wall piece.
A remarkable survivor from 1935—and the kind of piece of Sonoma County history that deserves to be framed rather than tucked away in a drawer.
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