The Holidays in Healdsburg

If you’re anything like me, you’re not quite ready for Thanksgiving (tomorrow!) let alone Christmas. Luckily, Healdsburg is here to help you get ready! With lots of holiday festivities in the area, what better way to jump start your holiday shopping then a trip to Wine Country?
This Friday Healdsburg is hosting their annual Downtown Holiday Party. Shops will be open later (until 9:00p.m.!), with little extras for you while you shop including wine, refreshments, live jazz and horse drawn carriage rides. Just outside of town, Bella Vineyards is having their Thanksgiving Weekend holiday party, with live music, food, and holiday gifts (11/27 &28). To keep the festive shopping weekend going, the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market is also hosting an arts and crafts fair (9a.m.-12p.m.). Saturday night, drive just 10 minutes north to Geyserville to enjoy their 2nd annual holiday tree lighting party, with music, refreshments, Santa, as well as ways to donate gifts for the holiday season. Sunday night, head back to downtown Healdsburg for their annual tree lighting at 5:00p.m.

Can’t make it to Healdsburg this weekend? There is still plenty to do and see prior to Christmas. To get in the holiday spirit of giving, December 3rd is the annual Dining Out for Life, where many of the local restaurants donate a percentage of the night’s proceeds to Food For Thought. December 4th is the last First Friday Art Walk in the 15 downtown Healdsburg galleries. If you missed the Holiday Party on November 27th, you can still head to the Santa Saturday December 12th, where the local merchants will be serving festive refreshments and more holiday specials for that last rush of shopping before Christmas!
This just brushes the edge of all the great holiday options in Healdsburg this time of year, as there are far too many to fit here! Be sure to check out www.healdsburg.com for more information on any of these, as well as other activities!
Another VERY important site this time of year is the Wine Road, who has put together a list of holiday hours for a majority of the local wineries, so you know whether you’re favorite winery is opened or closed while you are in Healdsburg during the holidays! http://www.wineroad.com/images/pdfs/holiday-hours-09.pdf

A little history....

The original owner was the Squire Butcher who built the mansion in 1883 after striking it rich during the Gold Rush. His daughter, Bertha, married Henry Honor. Their son Herbert Honor became a doctor, married a doctor named Vera, and in 1958 the couple began to use the mansion as their home base to practice medicine. They used the South Wing as their practice (which is now the Pool Suite and Garden Suite), and remodeled the mansion into three apartments; one to live in and two to rent out. In 1991, after having the Mansion in their family for 108 years, the Honor's sold the home to Joe & Linda Forest. For three years they used the home as a vacation rental, but sold to the current owners, Steve & Cathi Fowler, in 1994.

The Fowlers converted the three apartments into a bed and breakfast, renovating and decorating every inch of the home, as well as the surrounding property. It began with five rooms in the main house. As time went on they had the opportunity to renovate the 'carriage house' into what is now the Squire's Cottage, as well as a huge project of turning the water tower into a two level suite, the Tower Suite, which is one of the most unique and sought after rooms on the property.

In 1997, the Fowlers had the opportunity to purchase the property immediately behind the existing Honor Mansion Property. With this area, they increased the property to almost 4 acres. With lots of time, effort and love they transformed the property into the resort grounds you can see today, including 2 bocce ball courts, croquet, a PGA putting green, tennis and basketball court. They also acquired two buildings with the purchase, which have become the four Vineyard Suites, bringing the total of rooms to 13.