Spring Is Here-And So Are The Rattle Snakes!

Wildfire Season is almost here! Fountaingrove homeowners and residents enjoy the beauty of our environment but face the very real danger of wildfire.

The Fountaingrove area was first settled by Thomas Lake Harris, the first of a wave of Utopians to come to Sonoma County.

Harris established a commune on the site in 1875 called "New Eden of the West," part of his Brotherhood of New Life project. The colony included 1400 acres of land (purchased for a mere $21,000), upon which he constructed a number of buildings including a book press and a winery which produced some 70,000 gallons of wine in 1886.

Built in 1899, the Round Barn is a landmark for the Fountaingrove Ranch. The Round Barn was built by John Clark Lindsay, a contractor who came here from Napa in 1898. His son Jack at the age of twelve, earned his first wages on the round barn job, driving the wagon that hauled the building materials.

Lindsay was hired to build the barn by Kanaya Nagasawa who came to Sonoma County with Harris. Thomas left here in 1891 under a cloud of scandal leaving Kanaya to inherit the ranch and the winery. He lived there until his death in 1934.

Original Post Date: October 28, 2004

Over the past several years residents have complained about dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs in our public areas and in the open space (see the December 2002 Newsletter in our archives). At the Annual Meeting on October 27, 2004, one resident asked that we remind everyone, once again, that this problem continues, and that it offends the senses and can be injurious to public health. It also violates City Code. The City of Santa Rosa municipal code is as follows:

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Santa Rosa has been the site of several "utopian" experiments, some with religious foundations. One of these was the Fountain Grove community established just north of Santa Rosa in 1885.

Thomas Lake Harris established the community with an initial purchase of 400 acres of rolling foothills just above the Santa Rosa plain. He built a three-story, victorian mansion surrounded by lavish gardens which he called "The Commandery". He continually added to the community's holdings, eventually expanding Fountain Grove to over 1,500 acres.

Harris published a steady stream of booklets extolling his philosopical mix of socialism and mysticism which he distributed in both the U.S. and Europe. Eventually he was joined at Fountain Grove by people attracted to his teachings and writings. Members of the "Brotherhood of New Life" turned over their wordly possessions to the community and worked in the vineyards and winery which Harris established with the help of Dr. John Hyde. The winery was enormously successful eventually shipping 200,000 gallons of wine annually throughout the world.

Harris might have stayed at Fountain Grove for the rest of his life had he not been accused of adulturous behavior by a reporter writing in the San Francisco Chronicle. Despite the support of the local people and press Harris eventually left Fountain Grove and returned to a home he maintained in upstate New York. He turned the property over to his adopted son, Kenaye Nagasawa.

Nagasawa and Harris' followers ran the winery very successfully for many years and built the now prominent "round barn" which has been preserved as a historical landmark. Nagasawa and Luther Burbank were well acquainted and during this period Santa Rosa was graced by Burbank's horticulture on the south and Nagasawa's viticulture on the north. In 1934 Nagasawa died and the property was sold.