Preserving our Lake County, California family histories since 1977!

History of the Lake County Genealogical Society

Originally housed in the Courthouse Museum in downtown Lakeport, the Lake County Genealogical Society was easily accessed by researchers - but after two decades, changes within the County departments forced the Society to seek a new home for our collection.

Eventually space was found across Clear Lake in the Lucerne Visitor's Center. The space was adequate, but the location, so far from the County seat, made it a daunting journey for out- of-town researchers and volunteers alike.

Upon the closure of the Lucerne Visitor's Center a space was found for the library in Upper Lake. Senior Support Services, housed in the old Justice Court building, was gracious enough to provide access to half of the building. But it didn't last long. Sadly for us, expanded services for the Seniors meant the space occupied by our library was needed.

Unfortunately the only space offered by the County at that time was in Clearlake Oaks, a distance too far for our volunteers and most researchers who might have limited time in the area.

So, with heavy hearts, the decision was made to break up the collection among the membership and a few County departments, until such time that a suitable location became available.

In the Fall of 2024 the corner office was offered to us by the County of Lake. This May, 2025, after seven long years of being homeless, we moved a portion of our holdings into the space at 885 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport.

Although the space is small, we can use it to catalog what we have, by rotating in and back out the books and documents we have in our collection. Creating finding aids for the collection will assist the researchers and a future archivist. We plan to use an online catalog to help bring the almost 50 year old collection into the modern times.

We extend our Thanks to the County of Lake for the privilege to utilize this corner office space for our library and Society business.

Some of our previous members who so graciously volunteered untold hours of their time and effort: