The Good Old Railroad Days when 19th century trains created Sonoma County history
Story and photos by Karen Misuraca
The first narrow-gauge trains from San Francisco to the Sonoma valley arrived in 1888, and continued to steam in to the Kenwood Depot until 1934, when rail service gave way to the automobile. Today, taking pride of place in the village of Kenwood, the restored depot lies on a country road by a vineyard.
A Historic Landmark, the fancifully designed stone building was constructed of locally quarried, reddish-colored basalt stone. One of only two stone depots of that era remaining in the state, the edifice claims “Richardsonian Romanesque” style, a unique takeoff on classic Romanesque created by Henry Hobson Richardson, known for designing Trinity Church in Boston. Note the set-back entrance beneath an eyebrow dormer, the rusticated stone facade; a gang of short, squat columns, and arched windows.
Vacationers from San Francisco rode the trains to cottages and small resorts in the valley, while produce, wine, and tons of cobblestones from local quarries were shipped on the rails back to the growing city for paving Embarcadero and Market streets.
Rail service to and from Kenwood was discontinued in 1936, and in 1940, the ladies of the Kenwood Improvement Club strong-armed (as only they could) Southern Pacific into selling the depot for $10, and today, it’s the Kenwood Community Club, the site of many gatherings.
In Hot Water
In the 1880s and ’90s, escapees from hectic city life climbed aboard the trains from the bayside, headed for the natural hot springs — geothermal mineral springs that bubble up from 1,000+ feet below the surface at several locations in what is now Sonoma County.
At a hot springs bath house just minutes from the Kenwood Depot, seekers of R&R set up their tents and lingered for days at a time, immersing themselves in the warm, healing waters. A flyer advertised that the springs were “only one mile from the depot over a wild and romantic driveway with half-hourly trips to and from the depot.” For $150, you could purchase a lot upon which to build a cottage or erect tents.
In 1909, a small, rustic lodge and the Los Guilicos Harmonic music pavilion opened to “celebrate old Indian Medicine Springs,” in a nod to Wappo, Pomo, and Miwok tribespeople who, in decades past, camped by the springs. Today, at the same site, the owners of Morton’s Warm Springs Resort have discovered remnants of the original stone bath house, and arrowheads and other artifacts of when the indigenous people enjoyed the springs.
Since 1946, on 20 bucolic acres under a canopy of old oak trees, two spring-fed swimming pools and a geothermal wading pool have been popular at Morton’s. Families settle in on the picnic grounds, the lounge chairs, and at the snack bar, and when they tire of the pools, they wade in Sonoma Creek.
Mineral waters also spring up in the town of Sonoma at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, which welcomes visitors to enjoy the natural mineral waters that flow into the hotel’s “Watsu” pools and the swimming pools. Nearby, the thermal, spring-fed swimming pools at Agua Caliente’s Sonoma Aquatic Club are also open for day use.
Logging Days in Duncans Mills
In the 1870s, railroads reached all the way from San Francisco Bay to rustic resorts along the Russian River and up into the hills into the redwood forests. Just four miles from the Pacific Coast, Duncans Mills was a logging and sawmill settlement from where wood was shipped by rail to the burgeoning big city by the bay. The only remaining North Pacific Gauge Railroad station is a museum, here, displaying historic photographs, memorabilia, and old rail cars.
Within sight of the river, Duncans Mills was a popular destination, as it is today. The resident population is about the same as a century ago, less than 200. Fishing is good here near the steel bridge, for shad and catfish in the spring, bass in the summer, and Chinook salmon and steelhead in the wintertime. A campground popular with fishermen and families lies on the riverside.
In a lush, overgrown garden setting, locals chit chat in original clapboard buildings in their galleries, cafes, and curio shops. In a museum-like atmosphere, Christopher Queen Galleries showcases early California landscape paintings, depicting pristine forests, meadows, and farmlands from the 1860s to the 1940s. The tea shop sells 100 exotic concoctions and fanciful teapots, Sophie Cellars pours wine on the patio, Cape Fear Café offers local seafood, and the general store is the place for picnic provisions.
Redwood Lumber is Shipped by Rail to San Francisco
Accessible today by the scenic Bohemian Highway, the last stop west on the narrow-gauge North Pacific Coast Railroad was the logging encampment of Occidental, isolated up in dense redwood forests. In its heyday, lumber from six sawmills was trundled down the rails to Sausalito and ferried on barges across the bay to San Francisco. When lodgings were built in the 1890s, holidaymakers rode the train up to Occidental to bask in the sunshine in a “well-built” town with “a neat depot, two shoemaker shops, four hotels, a winery, warehouses and commodious dwellings.”
Today, the two-block-long main street is lined with original and re-created buildings from that era, housing galleries and curio shops, plus two Italian restaurants that bring diners here from miles away. For decades, these pasta palaces have been family favorites for bountiful Italian dinners. A boarding house and saloon for 19th century railroad workers and loggers, the Union Hotel Restaurant is now a traditional Italian eatery, watering hole, and pizzeria with red-checked tablecloths and a wisteria-draped garden patio. Not to be outdone, Negri’s Italian Dinners features made from scratch family recipes passed down four generations, such as Nonni’s ravioli and cacciatore, as well as famous apple fritters.
A thriving colony of artists and craftspeople headquarter at Occidental Center for the Arts, where musical events and festivals are held. Local artists are well represented at Hand Goods, which showcases art and crafts, pottery, jewelry, textiles, and clothing. In April, artists, musicians, and denizens of the town dress up, act silly, and carouse along Main Street in the annual Fool’s Day Parade. Music, food, and high jinks ensue as well.
Historic Railroad Square
In Santa Rosa, the commercial hub of the Sonoma Wine Country, Historic Railroad Square looks much as it did in the 1870s when Northwestern Pacific Railroad trains began to steam into the fast-growing agricultural town. Italian stonemasons built the depot and warehouses, canneries, hotels, and breweries, and then rebuilt many of them after the 1906 earthquake. Today, it’s the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) trains that arrive at the 1904 depot, which is now a California Welcome Center where you can see memorabilia and vintage photos, and get walking tour maps.
Just outside the depot, tourists take selfies with a smiling Charlie Brown and his pal, Snoopy, and with more Peanuts characters that turn up in the neighborhood of boutiques, bars, and eateries. In the old stone baggage claim building, Aroma Roasters is a refuge for caffeine addicts who are greeted by a mustachioed Snoopy, while Woodstock heralds the tiled entrance to the Omelette Express restaurant.
Among emporiums of curiosities and collectibles is Whistlestop Antiques, for nearly 50 years in a circa-1920, lofty 10,000-square-foot hall packed with vintage finds displayed by more than three dozen dealers selling Bakelite jewelry and Native American handcrafts, model trains and toys, sports memorabilia, and furniture from every era. Co-owner, Dee Richardson, said, “Besides our local browsers, we’re now getting a real boost in visitors, due to the SMART train. We call them our “train people,” who are mostly relaxed daytrippers who have time to ramble around, shop, and eat and drink in our restaurants; in fact, they have three hours, between train stops.”
As the sun sinks into the West and SMART train passengers head out of town, hotel guests and locals amble around Railroad Square for evening libations, noshes and entertainment. At Jackson’s Bar and Oven, inventive artisanal cocktails such as “Let That Man Go” and “Stay in Your Lane” are on the bar menu along with lobster rolls and wood-fired mussels. Besides local and international brews and Sonoma County wines, those in the know order calorie-worthy white peach cobbler and Nutella pizza before last call.
Evenings at the Arlene Francis Center for Spirit, Art and Politics may feature a heavy metal band, a poetry jam or a drag show, or flamenco, hip hop, and punk shows. Built of red brick in the 1890s, the former flour mill on Davis Street is a busy venue for local musicians and artists. Base player for the band, Hose Rips, Melati Citrawireja said, “AFC was where we often played, and established our band in town. We always felt supported there and appreciated the commitment to bridging across all disciplines, backgrounds and ages. There’s no one ‘scene’ here. Everyone comes!”
In a circa-1888 cannery building, the 6th Street Playhouse puts on plays and musicals, and you can listen to jazz and sip local wines by the fireplace at 4th Street Cellars. The elegant 1930s-era bar at Stark’s Steak & Seafood wins “Best Happy Hour” awards, and at Jackson’s Bar and Oven, “Let That Man Go” and “Stay in Your Lane” cocktails are on the menu.
The Plant Wizard and the Titans
In 1915, the legendary inventors and entrepreneurs of their era, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison, rode the rails in a private Northwestern Pacific car from San Francisco Bay to Santa Rosa, where they were trailed by newspaper photographers and thousands of well-wishers as they arrived at the home and gardens of the most famous horticulturist on the planet, Luther Burbank.
Today, you can make a pilgrimage to the world of the “plant wizard,” where the three titans hobnobbed and Burbank showed off some of the 800 varieties of fruits, flowers, vegetables, and grains that he developed in the 1880s. He’s known as the grandfather of the Russet potato, the Shasta daisy, and the spineless cactus, as well as myriad varieties of walnuts, almonds, plums, and apples.
The rubber tire tycoon, Firestone declared that Burbank was the “only man in this world who ever made botany as exciting as a horse race!”
Ultimately, Firestone’s tires supplied the new mass-produced Ford automobiles that lured passengers off trains and onto Sonoma County roadways. Railroading here may be long gone, but relics, remnants, and reminders recall the raucous old days along the tracks. You may no longer be able hop aboard a train and bumble along narrow-gauge tracks to hot springs, redwood forests and rustic river resorts, but you can meander country roads to the historic towns and villages that sprung up here more than a century ago.
This article includes excerpts from Karen Misuraca’s new book, Secret Sonoma: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful & Obscure, available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.com.
