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Napa Valley | Community
| History
 Sharpsteen
Museum Rich in history Calistoga has worked diligently to
incorporate the new with the old, and has successfully melded the
historical concept of Americana-small-town with the currency of
the computer and the information age. Side-by-side with million
year old geysers are the spas offering mineral soaks or mud baths,
Aromatherapy and masseuses trained to soothe the sore muscles of
a rush-rush world. Also found are the shops offering herbal and
natural products from green-grocers to mineral soaps, natural cottons
and silks to rayon and polyesters. And, of course, Calistoga is
the home of Calistoga Mineral Water and Crystal Geyser Water, those
bottled natural compounds that refresh and sustain life.
 The
Napa County Historical Society was established to study
the history of California and especially of Napa Valley. Its projects
include the collection, preservation, organization, and sharing
of information and artifacts of historical value, in an effort to
bring the rich heritage of this fascinating region to the awareness
of the public. The beautiful Napa Valley has an unusually high number
of historical sites, structures and buildings. The Napa County Historical
Society has preserved documents and photographs to create a living
textbook of local history. Conceived on May 8, 1948, at a pioneer
picnic at the Old Bale Mill, the Napa County Historical Society
was incorporated on May 14th of the same year. The picturesque mill,
built in 1846 by the English settler of the Rancho Carne Humana,
Dr. E. Bale, was an appropriate setting for the inauguration of
the Society.
 History
of Napa Valley Winegrowing - To the Wappo Indians who
first inhabited the valley, "Napa" meant a land of plenty.
Spawning salmon filled the waterways, clouds of migrating waterfowl
darkened the skies and the valley floor served as home to wildcats,
elk, black bear and grizzlies. Wild grapes also grew in abundance,
but it took early settlers such as George Calvert Yount to recognize
the valley's potential for cultivating winegrapes. Establishing
the first local homestead in what is now Yountville in 1836, Yount
was the first to plant vineyards in the valley. Other early pioneers
included John Patchett, who planted the first commercial vineyard;
Dr. George Crane, who promoted the planting of grapevines through
a series of newspaper articles; and Hamilton Walker Crabb, who experimented
with more than 400 grape varieties.
 California
Landmark 693 - George Calvert Yount (1794-1865) was
the first United States citizen to be ceded a Spanish land grant
in Napa Valley (1836). Skilled hunter, frontiersman, craftsman,
and farmer, he was the true embodiment of all the finest qualities
of an advancing civilization blending with the existing primitive
culture. Friend to all, this kindly host of Caymus Rancho encouraged
sturdy American pioneers to establish ranches in this area, so it
was well populated before the gold rush.
Sam
Brannan - After visiting the hot springs in Napa County,
Brannan bought a huge tract of land and founded the village of Calistoga,
(a combination of the words California and Saratoga) planning a
resort. Failing at that, he became a brewer, then an alcoholic.
Foresaking the city he helped found, he drifted to San Diego, remarried
and set up a small ranch near the Mexican border. At the age of
sixty-nine, he was paid the sum of forty-nine thousand dollars in
interest from the government of Mexico. He quit drinking, paid all
his debts and died penniless at the age of seventy.
The Legend of the Geysers - Long, long ago, the peaceful
Ashochimi Indian tribe inhabited a rich and luxuriant valley on
both sides of a river, now known as the Russian River north of San
Francisco.
St.
Helena Historical Society - Society is a public educational
organization. Its mission is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and
provide access to historical materials of all kinds from our community
as well as to promote public awareness and participation in the
collection of such materials
Napa
History.com
- This site has been created to celebrate the fantastic history
of the Napa Valley. From the early days, when the Wappo Indians
lived in the Napa Valley to the present, the history of the Napa
Valley has represented a way of life in many small California
towns. It's earliest settlers, the Wappo Indians lived with both
hardship, and beauty. They hunted, fished, and were inspired by
the beauty of this valley. When the first white settlers came
to the valley, they saw both opportunity and freedom. The wild
west was still very much alive in those days. Life was never easy
in any sense of the word. To own land, one had to become a Mexican
citizen, and the lands were ruled by an outdated system of governors
by the Mexican government. There was rebellion, fighting, bloodshed,
and death along the way. When the "Bear Flag Rebellion" finally
occurred in Sonoma, the men fighting for freedom were a rag tag
bunch, but they won, and today, that Bear Flag is now the California
State Flag.
Wikipedia
- Napa County - Napa County, once the producer of
many different crops is known today for its wine industry, rising
in the 1960s to the first rank of wine regions with France and
Italy. The combination of natural beauty, pleasant Mediterranean
climate, and proximity to San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento
has made it into one of the United States' most desirable areas
in which to live. However, its citizens are famous for their resistance
to suburban development, with the result that 33 of California's
58 counties--including many that are far from major urban areas--are
more populous.
Napa
County Genealogy
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