First thing when I woke up this morning, I was greeted with the news of the passing of our biggest local icon. Sometime in the early morning hours, our local landmark Bidwell Mansion caught fire and within a few short hours has been completely destroyed.
Built over 160 years ago by early pioneer John Bidwell, the mansion housed innumerable historically significant furnishings that are obviously irreplaceable, not the least being the beautiful rosewood piano purchased in New York City as a wedding gift in 1868 by General Bidwell for his bride Annie Ellicott Kennedy which was kept in tune and played for visitors to the mansion.
While Annie and John Bidwell resided in the mansion, they were hosts to many prominent figures of their era, including: President Rutherford B. Hayes, General William T. Sherman, Susan B. Anthony, Frances Willard, Governor Leland Stanford, John Muir, and Asa Gray.
As a long-time resident, it brought to mind the loss of a different landmark, back in May, 1977, when the Hooker Oak (already famous before guest starring as the "Gallows Oak" in the Errol Flynn movie Robin Hood) fell during a windstorm.
ca. 1910 - postcard of the landmark Hooker Oak
I am just thankful that I had more than one opportunity to explore both while they were still here.
(And as if we need another reminder, nothing lasts forever... except the love of God. And thank goodness for that.)
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