Alameda County - 6/25/2015

Nearly a week full of sites wasn't enough for us-- we decided to head to Alameda County for more adventures.

Our first stop was the Livermore Memorial Monument (CHL 241).

Robert Livermore was the first settler in these parts in 1835.  He grew grapes, fruit and grains here

Next we drove to Concannon Vineyard (CHL 641).

James Concannon founded this vineyard in 1883.

Their well-received sacramental and commercial wines helped to establish the area as a respected wine growing region.  Cuttings from this vineyard were even sent to Mexico to help their commercial viticulture.

A short drive away we came to the Wente Bros. Winery (CHL 957).

Wente Bros. is the oldest continuously operating, family-owned winery in California!  It was established by C. H. Wente in 1883.

Wente's sons Ernest and Herman introduced California's first varietal wine label, Sauvignon Blanc-- according to the state.

Our next winery of the day was Cresta Blanca Winery (CHL 586).

Charles Wetmore planted a vineyard here in 1882.  His wines won California its first International Award at the 1889 Paris Exposition-- which confirmed that California wines could compete on an international stage.

On our drive we passed a grass fire-- you never know what you are going to see when you are adventuring.

After we made it through the pass we can to the Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe (CHL 510).

This was the first adobe house built in the Pleasanton Valley.   It was built in 1844 by Francisco Solano Alviso-- and it still standing today.

When we arrived they were holding a summer camp in the education building.  It is nice to see old buildings like this still in use!

The Leland Stanford Winery (CHL 642) was next.  Leland Stanford is a great Californian-- he built railroads, was a Governor of Callifornia, served in the US Senate, and founded Stanford University.

He established this winery in 1869 and his brother planted the vineyard here.

According to the state the buildings are now being used by a different winery, but when we arrived this little brick building was all that we could find.

Our next site led us to another mission-- so we are slowly working our way through the list of 21.

Today we got to tour Mission San Jose (CHL 334).

In June 1797 a chapel was erected by Father Fermin Lasuen and the native workers on this site.

Due to the fertile land in the area, this became the second most profitable mission!

Sadly, all of the buildings (except the padre's quarters) were destroyed by the 1868 earthquake.

The Padre's quarters now serve as the museum for the mission, so happily we got to go inside the original building!

Next to the chapel, you can see the outlines of the original structures that were destroyed.

The chapel has been beautifully restored to look like it did when it was constructed in the early 1800's.

It is interested to note that even though the bell tower isn't as large as it used to be-- it still contains four original bells.

We are excited to check one more mission off our list!

Next we had to travel to two sites-- one for the plaque and one for the site-- to see the full Vallejo Flour Mill (CHL 46).

The plaque is located on the side of a road in a residential area, while the actual location of the mill is in a park.  Sadly, there are no structures remaining.

General Vallejo's brother, Jose de Jesus Vallejo, built a flour mill here in 1856.  All that is left now are the stone aqueducts that carried water here, but we couldn't confirm that the stones we saw were authentic.

Ukrania, site of Agapius Honcharenko Farmstead (CHL 1025) was the next site-- and this was a challenging one!

We arrived to a small park, that had a barn and small display about Honcharenko.  We were told that there is a plaque here, but that you need to hike to find it.  Ron and Libi set off to hike it, but it was warm and we hadn't eaten so Libi had a melt down and refused to walk.  Therefore, we decided that the few things we found would have to do for now.  Perhaps some day we will be back to try to find the plaque.

Agapius was the first Ukrainian to arrive in the United States.  He published the first American newspaper written in Russian and Ukrainian languages during his time in Alaska.  He came to this area in 1873 after a brief stay in San Francisco.  He is buried on the land (and we think the plaque is in this area).

It took a little work to find this next plaque-- but in the process we also found a park that seemed to be significant.  This is the Site of the Nation's first successful Bee Sugar Factory (CHL 768).

E.H. Dyer built a factory here in 1870.  He is known as the "father of the American beet sugar industry"-- and this plant processed 293 tons of sugar during its first operating season!

The state says that the plant was rebuilt on the original site, but we didn't see any sign of the factory in our drive through the neighborhood.  

Our next stop was CHL 503 the Site of the First County Courthouse.  This was the first courthouse in Alameda County which served as county seat until 1856 when it was moved to San Leandro.

We drove a short distance to the Site of the First Public School in Castro Valley (CHL 776).  

The land that the school was on was part of the Don Castro Land Grant.  It was donated by Josiah Grover Brickell to be used for educational purposes only in 1866.  Interestingly, the teacher taught children during the day and farmhands at night-- quite possibly the first night school in California :) 

In a church courtyard we came upon the plaque for the Estudillo Home (CHL 279).  This was the site of the last home of Jose Joaquin Estudillo.

You can see a video about the house and the history from the City of San Leandro here.  

The Estudillos founded the city of San Leandro and then donated several plots of land to the city for churches and other buildings.   

In a small courtyard in San Leandro we found Rancho San Antonio (Peralta Grant) CHL 246.  This land grant was given to Don Luis Peralta by Governor Pablo de Sola, the last Spanish Governor.  

Peralta was given the land for 40 years of service to Spain as a very successful soldier.  Sadly Luis never lived on this land, but his four sons split it among them and did live here. 

Peralta's family came to Alta California on the Anza expedition-- when Luis was only 17 years old!

Speaking on Luis' sons-- our next site was the Peralta Home (CHL 285).

This was the first brick home built in Alameda County and it was constructed for Ignacio Peralta, son of Luis Peralta.  

The home was built in 1860 by W. P. Toler, who was Ignacio's son in law. 

The home stayed in the Peralta family until Ignacio's death when it was sold to A.C. Peachey.

The home is open for tours, but we missed the final tour of the day.  Libi did a little recon with our camera and got a photo of this cool window!

This is not only a California Historical Landmark but it is also on the National Register of Historic Places!

This next site was my favorite of the day... the San Leandro Oyster Beds (CHL 824).

This was the most important oyster fishery in the state in 1890.  

Moses Wicks was responsible for bringing the seed oysters and implanting them off the coast of San Leandro.

They have a cool mural here to commemorate the beds and it was a great place for a family photo. 

Sadly the beds are no longer producing due to pollutants in the bay.

Our final site for the day was Mills Hall (CHL 849).

The gorgeous building on the campus of Mills College was formerly the Mills Young Ladies Seminary-- the first woman's college west of the Rockies.

In 1871 this structure provided homes for faculty and students as well as classrooms and the dining hall.

It was such a grand, four story building that many believed it was the most beautiful in Oakland.

The college is very well ranked and offers many majors and graduate programs as well.

Libi and Ron ventured inside to see what they could see and they found this plaque.

It was a gorgeous end to a really fun day...

and we got to hear the clock tower chime as well!