Neal Graffy presents – “Naples, A Tale of Two Cities.”

Neal Graffy will present “Naples, A Tale of Two Cities.” at the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society’s monthly meeting, Saturday, January 19th at the First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance at State Street, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm.
 
The January program is on Naples. First off, it ain’t in Italy, secondly and thirdly it’s not in Florida nor is it outside of Long Beach. It’s right here, a few miles west of Santa Barbara. Over the past twenty plus years it’s been a hot potato bouncing from County Planning to the Board of Supervisors to the State Supreme Court and back again. But this talk will not be so much on what’s happening, as it is on what WAS happening back in 1887 when John and Alice Williams founded the town of Naples, an 872-acre “Exquisite Summer and Winter Resort.” It had a church, a hotel, post office, train depot and even it’s own ball team – the redoubtable “Naples Nine.”

Who were the Williams’? What was Naples and what happened to it? All these questions and much more will be answered in “Naples, A Tale of Two Cities.” This show will also feature many rare photos and maps never before shown to an appreciative audience.”

Neal first gave voice to history in 1989 when he premiered a slide show talk on Santa Barbara History. Encouraged by the response, more talks were developed; and currently there are twenty different topics that have been presented in well over 300 shows.

Expanding from solo presentations, he has had numerous appearances on local, state and national radio and TV including Huell Howser’s California Gold, KCET TV’s Life and Times and nationally on This Old House. He has been featured in several documentaries including the Emmy Award winning Impressions in Time.

He has authored numerous monographs for historical organizations, as well as articles in regional and national publications and two books – Street Names of Santa Barbara and Historic Santa Barbara.

Neal has served as a board member of the Sana Barbara Historical Museum, member (and chairman) of the Santa Barbara County Landmarks Commission, board member of the Mission Canyon Association, and president of the Santa Barbara Corral of Westerners.

Special Interest Groups meet at 9:30 am for New Member & Beginning Genealogy, Civil War Genealogy, Writers’ Support Group, German Ancestry, Italian Genealogy, Jewish Genealogy, French Canadian Genealogy, Scandinavian Genealogy, Computer Genealogy, and DNA.  The Society Monthly meeting starts at 10:30 and the featured speaker starts at 11:00am.
Come join us. You do not need to be a member to enjoy this wonderful free presentation.
A calendar of genealogical events can be found at the Society web site (http://sbgen.org/eventListings.php?nm=216).

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