Fair Oaks Historical Society

Virtual Walking Tour

Continue south to the paved road, turn left and walk until you are even with the large granite boulder with "Smith" engraved on it. Approach the Smith/Dixon family plot.

Nathaniel R. Smith, a Civil War veteran, came to Fair Oaks from New Hampshire, thence Kansas, around 1899. He built a fine house on the north side of Sunset between Chicago and Kenneth. He was an orchardist here for over 40 years.

His son, Leland, began an exotic bird farm at the southeast corner of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Sunset in the 1920s and it continued to be one of the leading businesses in this field until World War II prevented the acquisition of foreign birds. Leland’s wife, Elma, began and ran Fair Oaks Florist at this location for many years.

His grandson Robert Smith was a noted USGS geologist and world authority on volcanic activity who worked on the Apollo moonwalk program and later on the Nevada nuclear test site.

His family, including Leland and Robert, surround him within the family plots and west of the family plot.

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