RSS FeedsCultural Resources
Prehistoric Context
Ethnographic Context
Historical Context
This chapter summarizes the discussion of cultural resources in Napa County. Discussed in detail in the chapter are the methods used to identify and create maps of known archaeological, historic, architectural, recreational, and scientific resources; the likelihood and type of future finds expected; and conclusions regarding cultural resource importance in the County.
There are many unique archaeological resources in Napa Valley, and the ethnographic record of the region shows the cultural complexity at the time of European-American contact. Napa County also played a historically significant role in the development of California and the West. The record of significant historic properties within the County is extensive and will surely grow as more properties are identified and evaluated.
It is clear from the synthesis of information shown on the maps and in the datasets that Napa County was a rich resource base and home to many thousands of Native Americans stretching back for thousands of years. The archaeological and broad historical record of the County are important resources significant not simply to California, but to North America.
The initial effort to identify cultural resources in Napa County was limited to information provided by Napa County and the information obtained from the Northwest Information Center (NWIC) and provided by Napa County. A more intensive study utilizing primary and secondary historic source information as well as field surveys would be needed to expand the utility of the information presented in this chapter. Themes researched and documented should be tailored to address those events of Napa County’s history against which cultural resource evaluations can be reasonably measured for historic significance on a more localized level.
Context
PREHISTORIC CONTEXT
The first recorded archaeological work in Napa County and many of the Bay Area communities was conducted in 1909. Early work noted that the shellmounds in Napa County exhibited large concentrations of ash and earth, which suggests a broad subsistence base. Minimal archaeological work was conducted in the Napa region between 1909 and the 1940s, at which time work began to concentrate on excavation of large habitation sites, extensive survey, and large-scale excavations.
From the late 1940s to the mid and late 1960s, American archaeologists’ developed a new approach that focused on how and why people chose to organize, develop, modify, or discard certain modes of adaptation. The Central California Classification System was therefore revised to synthesize the state of current knowledge in central California archaeology.
Recent archaeological investigations in Napa County have been conducted in response to the increasing level of development in the area. Investigations have focused on management goals and site-specific mitigation (Jaffke and Meyer 1998). Many of the recent archaeological investigations have aided in the understanding of the prehistoric people who inhabited the Napa region. These investigations have advanced knowledge of the strategies used by the prehistoric cultures to adapt to their environment, changes climates, and intertribal technological and cultural influences. Archaeological artifact anaylsis and chronological dating methods have made understanding the adaptive processes of the prehistoric cultures more accessible through such techniques as the study of obsidian hydration dating techniques, trace element analysis, and radiocarbon dating (Moratto 2004).
ETHNOGRAPHIC CONTEXT
Artifacts indicate that the earliest dates of human occupation in Napa Valley are approximately 5,000 years ago (Bennyhoff 1994). Archaeological record shows that the Napa region was inhabited in prehistoric times primarily by the Wappo, Lake Miwok, and Patwin tribal groups. As with most of the hunting-gathering groups of California, the 50- to 150-person tribelet represented the basic social and political unit. The acorn was the primary plant food, along with a variety of roots, bulbs, grasses, and other edible greens; and deer, elk, and antelope were the primary big game. Trade was common. With the advent of the mission system in the latter half of the 1700s, the numbers of Native Americans in the Napa region decreased rapidly, as did all Native American populations throughout the Bay Area and California.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Settlement
In 1823, the first recorded European explorers in the upper Napa Valley traveled through the area in search of a site for a new mission. They explored present-day Petaluma, Sonoma, and Napa before eventually settling on Sonoma as the new mission site (Hoover 1990).
In the 1830s, the Napa Valley became one of the first in California to be settled by American farmers. In 1836, George C. Yount was baptized as Jorge Concepcion Yount and became a Mexican citizen; he then received the Rancho Caymus land grant in the Napa Valley, which included more than 11,000 acres, from the Mexican government. This grant marked the beginning of the rancho period in the Napa region in which cattle and horse ranching was conducted on extensive ranch spreads. The rancho period continued until 1850, when California became part of the United States, although cattle ranching continued on after statehood.
When California was granted statehood in 1850, the Napa Valley was in the territory of California, district of Sonoma. In 1850, when counties were first being organized, Napa became one of the original 27 counties of California, with Napa City (later shortened to Napa) as the county seat.
The Gold Rush of the early 1850s caused Napa City to grow. After the first severe winter in the gold fields, miners sought warmer refuge in the young city, and some worked on the cattle ranches and in the lumber industry. Sawmills in the valley were cutting timber that was hauled by horse team to Napa City, where it was then shipped out via the Napa River to Benicia and San Francisco.
Viticulture Industry
The Napa Valley is known mostly for its premier wines. At the start of the industry, Euro-American settlers planted vineyards with cuttings supplied by Catholic priests from Sonoma and San Rafael. Wine production increased between 1845 and 1847. Little effort was made to improve the variety of mission grapes, growing techniques, or winemaking process until the mid 1850s, when zinfandel was introduced into California. Other European varietals, including Riesling, were introduced in the Napa Valley in the 1860s. During this time, the United States market for California wines was generally based on inexpensive price, rather than a sophisticated palate (Ferneau et al. 2000).
By the mid 1870s, grapes had become a major crop in the region. St. Helena became the focal point of wine growing in the Napa Valley (Ferneau et al. 2000). By the late 1870s and early 1880s, wine growers gradually began to replace old or diseased vines with a variety of the best European varietals. With experience, growers extended their vineyards into hillier terrain, where vines were less affected by hard valley frost, and planted other varieties, such as cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and merlot. While total output varied over the years, California saw a relatively steady increase in wine production.
Agricultural diversity began to increase in the late 1800s in response to the problems that faced the wine and wheat industries. Fruit growing—apples, peaches, olives, and prunes—was a major enterprise in the late nineteenth century. The wine industry did not recover until the 1950s, after the Great Depression and World War II.
