The Route
Start on the south end of Washington Street in Yountville. Cross Highway 29 to the Napa Valley Museum and Domaine Chandon. Take Yountville Cross Road to Silverado Trail north, and Oakville Cross Road west to Highway 29.
Rainbow-hued hot-air balloons float, most early mornings,
On the north end of town, a lovely cemetery is scattered with fascinating
tombstones from the 1800s, including the grave of George Calvert Yount,
founder of the town and the first white settler in the Napa Valley. Tombstones
mark the resting places of Native Americans and early pioneers from New
England, Canada and Europe.
From the cemetery , it is an easy, three-mile roundtrip walk or bike ride on Yount Mill Road along a tributary of the Napa River. Lined with big oaks, the deserted road is shady and bedecked with lovely views of the mountains and vineyards. Watch for a plaque honoring George Yount. In 1850s, he wangled from Spanish occupiers the huge land grant of Rancho Caymus, comprising much of the heart of the valley, where he built grist and saw mills on the river. You will see the remains of one of his large wooden barns.
On the main drag of Yountville, Washington Street, Vintage 1870, a gigantic pile of bricks, is a former winery within which a clutter of shops and cafes draw tourists. Also housing shops is the adjacent Southern Pacific Depot where in the 1880s vacationers from San Francisco stopped off on their way north to the hot springs in Calistoga. Prior to the railroad, travelers came by steamboat up the Napa River and by stagecoach through the valley. Gordon’s Café and Wine Bar in Yountville is the former stagecoach stop.
Another place to stroll is around the grounds of the old California Veterans Home, sited in a veritable botanical garden. A wide variety of trees were planted here in 1882 when the home, which is still in operation today, was built by veterans of the Mexican and Civil wars. Near the entrance to the home in a grove of redwoods, the Napa Valley Museum is an architectural surprise, a sort of contemporary farm shed. The culture and history of the valley and the art of winemaking are featured in photography, artifacts and displays, in indoor and outdoor exhibits and on a garden terrace.
The article on this page is adapted from the book, Backroads of the California Wine Country by Karen Misuraca (www.karenmisuraca.com), published by Voyageur Press.
Photo Credit: The pictures on this page are by Lisa Moore. www.studioponderosa.com