upcoming

Historical Book Presentation

What:

The Humboldt County Historical Society is holding a book signing and reception for two new books on Humboldt history: the new and revised edition of “Place Names of Humboldt County” by Dennis & Gloria Turner, and “The Sea Captain’s Odyssey: A Biography of H. H. Buhne” by Marvin Shepherd. The reception is on Thursday, December 2, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Humboldt County Historical Society, corner of H and 8th Streets in Eureka. Everyone is invited to meet the authors and celebrate.
 
After seventeen years of research and revision, Dennis and Gloria Turner’s second edition of “Place Names of Humboldt County, California, A Compendium, 1542-2009” is here and promises to be an even greater treasure than the prized original. The long-awaited revised edition of this fundamental resource contains fifty new photographs and extends the entries from two to three thousand place names. For each of these Humboldt locations, the Turners provide a succinct history, including the always-fascinating tale of how a place came to be named. Photographs include Merle Shuster’s aerial photos, images from the Peter Palmquist collection, and Gloria Turner’s wonderful contemporary shots.
 
Marvin Shepherd’s new book, “The Sea Captain’s Odyssey: A Biography of Captain H. H. Buhne, 1822-1894,” is the first-ever book-length biography of Humboldt’s premier sea captain. It was Buhne who was chosen to pilot the schooner “Laura Virginia” into Humboldt Bay, making him the first white settler to bring a ship across the bar, and marking the beginning of a forty-year career as the bay’s most trusted bar pilot. His virtual monopoly as a tugboat pilot was broken only upon his retirement from the business, in spite of aggressive competition during the infamous “tugboat wars.” Shepherd’s lively writing keeps pace with his subject and his many adventures, from having his lung punctured by an Indian arrow to his heroic sea rescues during shipwrecks to his family triumphs and tragedies. The story of the energetic Buhne provides a picture of what life was really like in the 1850s to the 1890s.

Come meet the authors and celebrate the arrival of these two significant books. For more information please contact the Humboldt County Historical Society at 445-4342, or visit www.humboldthistory.org <http://www.humboldthistory.org/> 

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