Some years ago, the Arcadia Publishing Company began its “Images of America” series highlighting the histories of communities across the United States.  Within the last two decades, the shelves at the Historical Society bookstore have filled with Arcadia books focusing on communities and historical topics in Humboldt County history.  One of the first to arrive was Ferndale by authors at the Ferndale Museum

       Like other Arcadia books, it includes some 200 photographs with historical information in its extensive introduction and captions. Beginning with the area's earliest inhabitants, the Wiyots, we learn about the Euro-Americans arrival in the 1850s, farmers appreciating the fertile land of the Eel River Valley, and the Danish and Swiss cattle ranchers joining them along with other immigrants from Portugal and Italy. 

       The book then shows the area's influential individuals and families, the developing town and businesses, and the rich architecture of the "Butterfat Palaces" -- homes of the area's prosperous dairy farmers.  The ethnic and fraternal groups in the close-knit community are highlighted along with special events such as parades, festivals, the longest running U.S. county fair, the nation's tallest Christmas tree, and the world famous Kinetic Sculpture Race. A whole chapter is devoted to local disasters -- major earthquakes, floods, fires and shipwrecks off the nearby coast.

       The town's nickname, "the Victorian Village", partly credited to its isolation west of the Eel River, is still apt in the 21st century.  Its relative lack of growth and "modernization" contributes now to its success as a tourist draw and to its being the setting for many Hollywood movies where many locals played extras.

       As a reinforcement of Humboldt pride and nostalgia, this Arcadia book Ferndale is well worth adding to one's bookshelf.