Day Trip: Historic Homes in SF, Healdsburg

Living in the Bay Area is a luxury. From the salty, cool streets of San Francisco to the warm, nestled valley of Sonoma, beauty abounds.

The Marina is one of my favorite San Francisco neighborhoods. Charming pastel painted houses typical of the 1930's and 40's are squished alongside one another. The first Marina post office was established in 1919 complete with a general store and a gas pump.

Heading up the highway, we arrive in the sweet little town of Healdsburg. Many of the first residents to settle here were from the deep South and the southwestern states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

According to an article by Hannah Clayborn on the history of Healdsburg,

Most of the early cabins and houses in and around Healdsburg were modest structures often “designed” and built by amateur carpenters. In the tradition of the “first come first buy” American frontier, no section of town was set aside for business or public purposes.

External brick chimneys and porches are a sign of Southern influence in Healdsburg houses. It's thought that immigrants from Africa brought the porch to America.

Some of the first porches to appear were built onto what is referred as a "shotgun" house. A shotgun house is a long house with a living room in the front, bedrooms in the middle and a kitchen in the rear. The early models did not include bathrooms. A little more Southern history: Elvis Presley was raised in a shotgun house.

For more photos of the Marina in San Francisco and of Healdsburg, visit my blog: inspireyourlifestyle