The meeting that Yolo County held on Thursday, March 22, made it clear that the county wants to turn the Gibson House away from its historic nature and into offices, classrooms and modern art gallery space for YoloArts. The vast majority of those in attendance at this meeting spoke in opposition to that plan. Many people asked that before the county take such drastic action, that they get more community input and even place such an action on the ballot.
The Yolo County Board of Supervisors voted to turn the Gibson House into a cultural center. Some of the historic items will remain on display, but most will be relegated to storage. The value of the Gibson House is that it has remained intact as an example of early life and agriculture in California. Once you start taking it apart you will never get that example back again.
We ask that the county listen to the concerns voiced at that meeting, revisit this decision and maintain the Gibson House as a history-based museum.
The Gibson House, Woodland, Yolo County, and Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Virginia are both intact farms on the National Register of Historic Places, U.S. National Park Service. They both represent early stages of agricultural life in the United States. Neither site should be taken apart.
California is noted for the Gold Rush, but along with the Gold Rush in the 1850s came farmers who made California into an agricultural powerhouse. For the most part, the gold has played out, however agriculture remains a powerhouse for California and this nation.
Placing the Gibson House on the National Register acknowledges the importance of having an early intact farmhouse with outbuildings open to the public to see and learn how early settlers of Yolo County lived. This is the only intact farm of this era in Yolo County open to the public.
The Board of Supervisors and YoloArts are moving forward with the plan to remove the historical museum staff from the premises and put many of the historic items in storage. Their plan is unclear and not supported by the people of Yolo County.
ROBERT and VIRGINIA DAY
