KELSEYVILLE – Kelseyville business owners, residents and artisans were recognized this week for their work to spruce up one of the town's historical monuments.
The state historical marker at the corner of Bell Hill Road and Main Street in Kelseyville, was dedicated on May 30, 1950.
It marks the site of the area's first adobe house, which was built by Charles Stone and Andrew Kelsey on land purchased from Salvador Vallejo.
Stone and Kelsey were known for their abuse of the local Indian tribes, and used forced Indian labor to build the home, “causing much resentment and culminating in murder by Indians of both Stone and Kelsey in the fall of 1849,” the monument states.
The marker also sits over the remains of the two men, whose murders gave rise to the Bloody Island massacre across the lake, near Robinson Rancheria, in 1850.
In recent years, the monument had started to look rundown, and community members responded by raising funds to support a facelift for the marker.
The work on the monument's new improvements – including a large new concrete base – recently was completed, and at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown presented a proclamation expressing appreciation to those involved in the effort.
“This was quite a project to put together,” said Brown, explaining that the group worked quickly to get started.
The improvements to the monument also benefit the town's entrance, he said.
Brown presented the proclamation to Marr B. Olsen Inc., Granite Construction Co., Denton & Sons Trucking, Konocti Arts Society, Kelseyville Lumber and the Kelseyville Business Association “for their extraordinary efforts and assistance in providing a much needed facelift to Kelseyville's historical monument,” the proclamation stated.
Marr Olsen wasn't able to attend, but his wife, Kim, accepted the proclamation on his behalf.
“It was something that he wanted to do,” she said, noting that her husband – a member of the Gunn family – had grown up just across from the monument. “It was a pleasure to do that for our community.”
Greig Olson, president of the Kelseyville Business Association, said the effort started more than a year ago, when community members recognized something was amiss in the middle of the town, and determined the monument had become an eyesore.
Olson credited the Konocti Arts Society for its involvement. The group held a benefit and put $400 toward getting the renovation started.
Then, last January Olson and Olsen got together and sketched out plans for the monument site.
“It's been really a wonderful project to be part of,” Olson said.
Annette Higday of the Konocti Arts Society said of the project, “We're trying to spiffy up Kelseyville and make everything artsy.”
Olson said more landscaping remains to be done, with plans for putting wood chips on top of one part of the monument where there currently is red rock.
He said they are hoping to finish up those touches in time for the annual Kelseyville Pear Festival, which takes place Saturday.
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