West Hills Farm: Cultural Landscape Inventory, John Muir National Historic Site
Bae S and Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2024. West Hills Farm: Cultural Landscape Inventory, John Muir National Historic Site. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 976296. National Park Service. Pacific West Regional Office / CRIS-CL Database
The West Hills Farm cultural landscape is a forty-four-acre parcel adjoining the Mt. Wanda Unit of the John Muir National Historic Site to the south. Located in the upper Alhambra Valley region of Martinez, Contra Costa County, the site is bound to the south and east by residential subdivisions, to the north by the Mt. Wanda Unit, and to the west by the wooded foothills of Franklin Ridge. The cultural landscape constitutes forty-four acres of the historic 185-acre Hill Girt Ranch, a fruit ranch and vineyard operated by the Swett Family from the 1880s through the 1960s and includes within its boundary an olive orchard from the late-nineteenth century that stands evidence to the early agricultural period of Contra Costa County, a period during which Alhambra Valley was studded with orchards and vineyards on the hills and valley floors. The West Hills Farm cultural landscape is locally significant under National Register Criterion A as reflective of the early agricultural experimental development in Contra Costa County in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The period of significance begins in 1881 when the Swett Family acquired the Alhambra Valley property and ends in 1889, the earliest confirmed date of the olive orchard on the Swett Family land. West Hills Farm retains historic integrity and effectively represents the early, experimental period of agriculture in Contra Costa County.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Bae, Sang; Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2024-03-18
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- JOMU , PWR
- Keywords
- Agriculture, Alhambra Valley, domestic, eucalyptus, experimental agriculture, farm, Frank Tracy Swett, Franklin Ridge, Helen Muir, Hill Girt Ranch, historic site, John Muir, John Muir National Historic Site, John Strenzel, John Swett, Margaret Plummer, Mount Wanda, olive, olive orchard, Scenic Landscape, Swett family, West Hills Farm
- License
- Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International