Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm
Near Santa Rosa, California
On the western edge of Sebastopol lies a small farm where one man reshaped what Americans eat. Luther Burbank, the horticulturist so celebrated in his day that people called him the plant wizard, purchased this Gold Ridge property in eighteen eighty five. He chose it for its rich, fluffy soil, and here, over roughly forty years, he ran the outdoor laboratory where he tested and refined many of his more than eight hundred varieties of plants.
Burbank was a tireless crossbreeder and selector, working with fruit, nut, flower, and vegetable plants at a scale that astonished visitors. Among his lasting creations is the russet potato, still the most common potato in the American diet, along with the Santa Rosa plum and the Shasta daisy. From this modest cottage and its surrounding acres he drew the admiration of figures like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.
Today the Gold Ridge Experiment Farm is owned by the city of Sebastopol, cared for by the Western Sonoma County Historical Society, and kept alive largely by volunteers as a living museum.
