Photos by Ryan Lely
Special to the Sun
Sonoma Valley is perceived as a slow-paced alternative to the other more urbanized or commercialized areas surrounding it, but 100 years ago, the budding towns that sprang up in the Valley were putting Sonoma on the fast track to becoming a booming resort destination.
Once transportation links became established, Sonoma Valley began to attract huge crowds, yearning to get away from the fog and hustle and bustle of San Fancisco. The factors that enticed visitors then are the very same ones that are attracting visitors today—great weather, fresh air, fine wine, locally grown produce and healthful activities.
Long before bridges or roads and automobiles, boats and ferries carried vacationers on the journey from San Francisco and other points to Sonoma Valley. Sonoma Creek was a navigable waterway at the turn of the 20th century and shipping stops were developed along the channel from San Pablo Bay. The early trade in freight and produce helped establish routes between Sonoma and San Francisco. Some names remain in use; some of the more colorful ones appear only on old maps of the area.
Wingo
The first landing to develop was Wingo, built around 1850 by Chinese laborers who filled in the land with wheelbarrows of dirt. Various stories give different explanations for the change from its original name, Norfolk. From this and other stops along Sonoma Creek, produce, wine and millions of pounds of basalt, mined primarily from Schocken Hill, just north of the present-day Sonoma Plaza, were shipped to San Francisco to become paving bricks.
Norfolk eventually became a train station when the first railroad, the Prismodial Line, came to Sonoma Valley in the 1870s. A narrow-gauge railway was installed later and for years had a resident bridge tender who opened and closed the two bridges that spanned the creek there.
Today, only remnants remain of Wingo. The floods of the winter of 2005 broke through the levees and have left the dock and buildings surrounded by marshland. But if you stop by Larson Family Winery, which is linked to Wingo via Millerick Road, you can pick up a bottle of Wingo White wine.
Embarcadero
(a.k.a. St. Louis)
Just west of Schellville was the northernmost port for steamers and sailing vessels. Known variously as Sonoma Embarcadero and St. Louis, it served as an import/export point for inbound lumber and materials from San Francisco and outbound produce, dairy products, wine and rock to the city. It suffered the same fate as Schellville when the creek was no longer navigable for larger vessels.
Schellville
When the first railroad line was built in 1879, Schellville was designated as a station and named for Theodore Schell, a Gold Rush pioneer who had a 1,000-acre ranch south of the town of Sonoma. A competing railroad line established its own station in 1887 and called it Schellville.
Schellville had a bright future, situated at the convergence of two rail lines and a main road to Sonoma, Grand Avenue. A small hamlet sprang up, with its own several hotels, a post office, bowling alley and school—even a newspaper, The Shellville Ray. But as Sonoma Creek clogged with mud, larger boats could no longer reach Sonoma, and Schellville never achieved its early promise.
Rusting train cars and a small green building at Eighth Street East and Napa Road are the last extant evidence of the railroads’ dominance. Within the loosely defined boundaries of Schellville, you can find the Schellville Fire Station and Bonneau’s Deli and gas station—a landmark for travelers at that spot since the 1920s.
Vineburg
(a.k.a. Lion’s Station)
With its proximity to the flourishing vineyards of Buena Vista and the Gundlach, Bundschu and Dresel families, the Vineburg station was the distribution point for Sonoma wines to make their way around the country. After Prohibition began in 1919, it would be another 50 years before the Bundschu family resumed wine production.
Today, the Vineburg post office sits across the road from its original location at Eighth Street East and Napa Road, and the Gundlach Bundschu winery has P.O. Box 1.
