Ezra Hunt - Napa Valley Tourism, California, USA: The History, Wine Tour, Environmental Tour

Napa Valley Tourism, California, USA

The History, Wine Tour, Environmental Tour

Author

Ezra Hunt.

SONITTEC PUBLISHING

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Copyright 2019 Sonittec Publishing

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First Printed: 2019.

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Summary

The Importance of Traveling

I believe that there are many important aspects with traveling. I know that not everyone has this opportunity, but if you do, embrace it. Traveling can develop a persons character, being open minded. You arent enclosed in your bubble; you get outside of your comfort zone. Traveling is something you cant learn in a classroom

As a traveler, you discover new beautiful, interesting places that make you want to come back and you experience different cultures that you werent aware of. The Thai locals have a reputation for providing superb hospitality. When I visited Chiang Mai, they bowed to me and to the other travelers, greeting with a warm welcome Sawadee Ka. Even in Turkey, I visited one of the leather shops in the Grand Bazaar with my parents. While my mother was trying on a few leather jackets, the Turks tried to make us feel comfortable, seating us and served us apple tea.

We never know what we have until we lose it. Maybe in a way, traveling can be perceived as the golden opportunity to escape from reality, from our busy daily lives. At the start of a vacation, all my worries and problems begin to disappear. But then, after time is spent away from my comfy bed, home-cooked food and friends, you realize how much you miss all that regularity, and realize the importance of the littlest things.

Traveling has always been a part of me, and Im determined to keep on traveling for the rest of my life, as there is so much more to see. Im also determined to encourage traveling, especially to my own generation. Instead of staying home during the entire summer, maybe look into your traveling options. It doesnt necessarily have to be out of the country, or an expensive trip, even a road trip is a good idea. Travel as much as you can throughout your life, to broaden your horizons. As the trending phrase rose to fame last year, Ill say that You only live once.

Introduction

When it comes to figuring out what to see and do at any destination, every traveler derives special pleasure from discovering the hidden gems and authentic experiences that uniquely define a place and its people. It can entail tasting new foods, stumbling upon a local with an interesting story, or finding a picturesque trail to hike or take a walk.

Most hard-core travelers find a way to balance time spent seeing the tried and true vs. getting off the beaten path. It may be trendy to disparage any attraction that reeks of mass tourism but who wouldnt want to see the Leaning Tower in Pisa or the Eiffel Tower in Paris? Indeed, there are times when its worthwhile to follow the millions of tourists who have been there before us each year. At least, thats what we found when we visited the Napa Valley. Here are some of our favorite things to see and do:

After a visit to Napa Valley in the 1880s, writer Robert Louis Stevenson pronounced, Wine is bottled poetry. Youll see this quote as you pass the areas landmark sign on Highway 29. Unfortunately, Stevenson was referring to French wine what Napa vintners should aspire to. But as the film Bottle Shock documents, California wineries have since risen to the level of their European predecessors. Now, both connoisseurs and amateurs savor the respected vintages from Napa.

With its rise in the wine industry, Napa Valley has also become a vacation hot spot. The tiered hillsides, wine caverns and illustrious estates make for stellar scenery, and top-class hotels are taking note. Scattered between the vineyards, sumptuous resorts cater to every indulgence golfing, spa pampering, gourmet dining, you name it. A trip to California wine country is made unforgettable by not only the life-changing Cabernet, but also the intoxicating natural setting. And if you can afford it, youll be back for more.

Napal Valley History

The first settlers came to Napa County about 10,000-12,000 years ago. The Patwin, so-called for their word pat-win , meaning people, were a southern branch of the Wintu (or Wintun) that occupied most of the land around Suisun, Vacaville, and Putah Creek. Named for a corrupted version of the Spanish word guapo in reference to their brave resistance against the Mexican conquest, the Wappo lived throughout the Sonoma and Napa valleys.

The Wappo spoke a unique dialect of the Yukian language. Like the Patwin, the Wappo were hunter-gatherers, consuming local seafood, deer, rabbit, fowl, acorns, and roots. They were famed for their basketmaking. Wappo villages were led by a chief, male or female, who was chosen for life. The villages were usually located along creeks, and were composed of oval grass-thatched houses[They] were generally very peaceful, except for occasional warfare with the Pomo and struggles against Spanish incursions in the Napa Valley (Leitch, 1979). The Patwin spoke a dialect of the Penutian language family. Like the Wappo, Patwin men generally wore no clothing and women typically an apron or skirt of shredded bark, tule, or animal skin. There were numerous Patwin tribelets, consisting usually of a village with several satellite villagesdwellings, sweathouses and dance houses were all semi-subterranean, earth-covered structures (McKern, 1922).

Anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber estimated that prior to the incursion of white settlers there may have been nearly 1,000 Wappo in the Napa Valley and more than 12,000 Wintu state-wide. By 1843 there were fewer than 3,000 Wappo and Patwin in Napa County (Kroeber, 1925), and by the 1970s there were only about 50 Wappo left in California (Leitch, 1979).

The Spanish made their way into the valley in 1823. Looking for a place to build a new mission, Don Francisco Castro and the founder of Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, Padre Jos Altimura, led an expedition party through the area under an armed escort headed by Jos Sanchez (Hoover, Rensch, & Rensch, 1970). Pioneer and mountain man George C. Yount arrived in the Napa Valley possibly as early as 1831. Five years later Yount became the first Americano (the Spanish term for Americans living in the Mexican territory Alta California) to receive a land grant from the Mexican government in the Napa Valley. He was granted Rancho Caymus, near the site of present day Yountville, from General Mariano Vallejo.

Nicols Higuera, a Mexican citizen, was a soldier in San Francisco from 1819-1823. Besides Rancho Entr Napa (encompassing what is now downtown and south Napa), Governor Mariano Chico also granted him Rancho Rincn de los Carneros part of the present-day Carneros district in southwestern Napa County. Out of the maximum eleven square leagues that could be granted, Mexican law stipulated that one league was to [be used as] irrigable land, four leagues to be non-irrigable land, and six leagues of grazing land (Bennett, 1935), though those regulations were rarely heeded. At one point, Higuera had 2,000 head of cattle and 3,000 horses on his ranchos (Davis, 1929).

In 1846, as war loomed between Mexico and the United States, General Vallejo and many Californios (Mexican settlers born in or who emigrated to Alta California) recognized the inevitability of US rule and sided with the Americanos . The Bear Flag Revolt lasted just 26 days, and after a 25-day stint as an independent republic, California was annexed to the United States. In 1850 it became the 31st state in the union.