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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Riviera West (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Riviera West. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Riviera West is located in Lake County.

To see how the shape of California's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Lake County: Colusa, Glenn, Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma & Yolo.

Below are the counties that are near Riviera West. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Riviera West:

  • Lake County     (The home county of Riviera West)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riviera West, with the one closest to Riviera West listed first.
    • Glenhaven
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Soda Bay
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Clearlake Oaks
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Kelseyville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Clearlake Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Glenview
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Glenview is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenview
    • Finley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Clearlake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lucerne
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Salminas Resort
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Salminas Resort is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salminas Resort
    • Seigler Springs
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Seigler Springs is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seigler Springs
    • Glenbrook
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Glenbrook is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenbrook
  • Colusa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riviera West, with the one closest to Riviera West listed first.
    • Wilbur Springs
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Leesville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Leesville is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
    • Lodoga
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Lodoga is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodoga
    • Stonyford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Devils Elbow
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Devils Elbow is located in Colusa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devils Elbow
  • Mendocino County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riviera West, with the one closest to Riviera West listed first.
    • Hopland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Largo ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Largo is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Largo
    • Hemlock Ranch
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Hemlock Ranch is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemlock Ranch
      • Hemlock Ranch has also been known as:
      • Hemlock
    • Talmage
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Hermitage ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Hermitage is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermitage
    • Yorkville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Ukiah
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Ukiah is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ukiah
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,883 people
      • Ukiah has also been known as:
      • Ukiah City
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ukiah <1>
    • The Forks
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • The Forks is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Forks
    • Calpella
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Potter Valley
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Napa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riviera West, with the one closest to Riviera West listed first.
    • Woodleaf
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Woodleaf is located in Napa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodleaf
    • Calistoga
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Sonoma County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riviera West, with the one closest to Riviera West listed first.
    • Mercuryville ‑ Historic
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Mercuryville is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mercuryville
    • Preston
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Preston is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
    • Cloverdale
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Geyserville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Kellogg
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Kellogg is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
    • Camp Rose
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Camp Rose is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Rose
    • Healdsburg
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Mark West Springs
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Mark West Springs is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mark West Springs
    • Windsor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
  • Yolo County

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Riviera West, see our County-by-County Page for Riviera West.

Cemeteries Near Riviera West ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Riviera West.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Riviera West - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Riviera West covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Riviera West, with the one closest to Riviera West listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

While we didn't find Riviera West in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Riviera West.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Riviera West, with the one closest to Riviera West listed first.

  • Kelseyville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Highland Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Highland Springs is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Springs
  • Glenbrook
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Glenbrook is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenbrook
  • Lower Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Lakeport
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Bartlett Springs
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Bartlett Springs is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett Springs
  • Hough Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hough Springs is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hough Springs
  • Upper Lake
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Pieta
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Pieta is located in Mendocino County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pieta
  • Middletown
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Preston
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Preston is located in Sonoma County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Preston
  • Cloverdale
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Asti
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Asti is located in Sonoma County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asti
    • Hopland
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Largo ‑ Historic
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Largo is located in Mendocino County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Largo

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Riviera West. See our List of 1890's Communities around Riviera West.

Newspapers Published in Riviera West ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 102 newspapers that have been published in the area around Riviera West.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Riviera West, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Riviera West.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Riviera West:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Riviera West) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Riviera West, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.