Watson School

Watson School is a Sonoma County Regional Parks Department historic park, covering approximately three quarters of an acre, located about two miles east of Bodega, California, on the north bank of Salmon Creek, on the south side of the road, at 15000 Bodega Highway.

The land was donated by James Watson in 1855, for a school to serve the communities of Freestone, Bodega, and Valley Ford. Open from 1856 to 1967, it served as a public school for 111 years, longer than any other one room school in California. The schoolhouse remains today in its original condition, on its original site.

In 1976, Watson School was named Sonoma County Landmark #23, and in 1978, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is open from sunrise to sunset by a locked gate, and features four picnic tables plus one toilet, along with signs commemorating the schoolhouse and the 1976 Running Fence art project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Salmon Creek

Salmon Creek, a 13-mile long tributary to the Pacific Ocean, is a separate drainage of approximately 35.3 square miles, with six major named and 17 minor unnamed tributaries. It is the largest stream between Bodega Bay in California and the Russian River, also in California.

Located on the western slope of the Coastal Range mountains, Salmon Creek heads in the rugged fir and redwood covered slopes about two miles west of Occidental, California, and defines the southern boundary of the three quarter acre Watson School historic park, as it flows in a southwesterly direction through the towns of Freestone and Bodega to enter the Pacific Ocean about one mile north of Bodega Bay.

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Salmon Creek

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