Hill on History
The little village of Glen Ellen was originally named for Ellen, the wife of Colonel Charles V. Stewart, who planted Glen Ellen Vineyards in the lush vale in 1860. The next prominent settler in Glen Ellen was retired Sea captain Charles Justi, who built a tavern and inn in the late 1860s at the junction of Dunbar Road and the rough trail between Sonoma and Santa Rosa (now the route of Highway 12) to serve weary travelers taking the daily Sonoma-Santa Rosa stage beginning in 1870.
When the U.S. Postal system appointed the Justi Inn the local post office with the name Glen Ellen in 1872, Colonel Stewart changed the name of his vineyard to Glen Oaks. For the next decade or so the growth was slow, except for a few large tracts of open land north of Glen Ellen owned by wealthy San Franciscans for summer gatherings and some speculators who dreamed of lot sales.
Glen Ellen became a destination for tourists, weekend camping and permanent residents beginning in August, 1882, when the San Francisco & North Pacific Railway Company extended the narrow gauge tracks of its railway from Marin to the heart of Glen Ellen from its previous terminus at the Sonoma Plaza, a project completed in December, 1879.
The ease of reaching this rural Eden by railroad set off a rash of development of resorts, campgrounds, and a dozen hotels, of which the recently restored Chauvet is the only survivor. Wells Fargo opened an agency in the growing little business district by the creek in 1883. A cabin could be bought for $300. Five years later, the giant Southern Pacific completed a railway by a different route through Glen Ellen to Santa Rosa, which was connected with the S.P.’s transcontinental railroad near Napa for the first time.
Glen Ellen got another shot in the arm when the most prolific American author, Jack London, purchased his extensive “Beauty Ranch” in the Glen Ellen hills in the first decade of the 20th century and wrote his novel, “Valley of the Moon,” extolling its virtues.
Glen Ellen’s current residents love this green oasis as much as London did and want it to continue to prosper with local celebrations and without a whole lot of fanfare.
