Guerneville, pronounced with the middle E silent, was the last name of one of our forefathers here in the Russian River area George E. Guerne a young Swiss immigrant who arrived in Stumptown in 1867. The original name of the area was Stumptown because of all the redwood stumps left behind by the lumber industry. It was called “Shabaiki” by the local native american tribes or "Ceola" which means the shady place . So Guerneville, with a silent e in the middle, was named after one of the original lumber men who constructed and operated a saw-mill and who owned much of the land just west of the town of Guerneville.
Today Guerneville is home to an eclectic group of folks who love to celebrate the place, they call home, as well as the summer vacationers who make the short drive from the bay area. Vacation homes are abundant here and many of the locals make their livelihood by renting vacation homes. The rentals help support ancillary businesses like house cleaners and rental managers here in Guerneville. We celebrate in a variety of ways and putting on parties is a favorite of ours, like the blues and jazz festival, our "stumptown" parade and our biweekly "rockin the river"
Many of these home were built as weekend get-a-ways for the well to do in San Francisco and Hollywood stars. During the Big Band era the town was jumping with bands like Woody Herman and Tommy Dorsey to name a couple. The Korbel brothers bought logging property near Guerneville and after the lumber boom slowed the Korbels turned their logged out lands to agriculture. In the late eighteen hundreds they started to produce wine from their grape vineyards. As we know Korbel ranks as the nation's most widely recognized champage producer. You can visit the original buildings as well as the tasting room when you visit Guerneville.
Right now the Real Estate market in Guerneville is moving very fast. Potential income properties as well as year round homes are selling quickly. A beach front home which had been used as rental income was recently put on the market and received bids the very next day at 20% over the asking price. Because of this some home owners, who were not so long ago holding on to get their heads above water, are now considering selling and move up to larger more expensive homes knowing it is a sellers market here in Guerneville. To have a look at what your house may be worth and to look at homes already in the market visit our site or call (707)217-1786