The name "Olompali" comes from the Coast Miwok language and likely means "southern village" or "southern people".[4] The Coast Miwok village site of Olompali (alternatively spelled "Olompolli", "Olompoli" or "Olumpali") dates back to about 500 CE.[5] Olompali had been a main center in 1200 CE, and might have been the largest native village in Marin County.[4]
An Elizabethan English silver sixpence minted in 1567 was discovered in the park by archeologists, indicating that villagers may have had contact with Sir Francis Drake, or with people who had traded with the early English explorer.[5] Many Miwok cultural artifacts have been identified during archaeological studies within the area of the present-day park, indicating this may have once been an important trade and cultural crossroads.
The oldest house built north of the San Francisco Bay was built here in 1776 by the Coast Miwok, out of adobe bricks, and owned by the chief of the Olompoli tribe Aurelio, who was the father of Camillo Ynitia. Camillo was known as the last Hoipu (Headman) of the Miwok community living at Olompali.[3]
"Olompali #48, Marin Co., Grant of 2 sq. leagues made in 1843 by Gov. Micheltorena to Camilo Unitia [sic]. Patent for 8,877.48 acres (35.9259km2) issued in 1862 to Camilo Unitia [sic] in T 3-4N, R 6-7W, MDM."
—California Ranchos: Patented Private Land Grants Listed by County, Shumway 1988:39
The newly secured grant of Rancho Olompali included Ynitia's father's historic house, the first adobe house built north of the San Francisco Bay, as well as his own adobe house.
Ynitia held onto the Olompali land title for 9 years, but in 1852 he sold most of the land to James Black of Marin for $5,200.[4][5] Black was to become one of the largest landowners of Marin County.[4] Ynitia retained 1,480 acres (6.0km2) of Olompali called Apalacocha.
The Blacks and Burdells
In 1863 the land and adobe house passed from James Black to his daughter Mary (Black) Burdell and her husband Galen Burdell, a wealthy dentist.[3][5] Mary's son James transformed Olompali into a country estate, he built a 26-room mansion with a formal Victorian-style mansion that incorporated the foundations and rooms of Ynitio's adobe house.[4][6]
Jesuit retreat, commune and state park
The land and estate was eventually sold by the Burdell family to Court Harrington. Harrington in turn sold it to the University of San Francisco, to be used as a Jesuit retreat.[4][5]
During the 1960s, the University of San Francisco sold Olompali several times. Each time, the buyers defaulted and the property reverted to the university. The most famous tenant was the rock band Grateful Dead. During the Dead's brief stay it became a gathering place for San Francisco's rock musicians, including Janis Joplin and Grace Slick.[4]
In 1967 Don McCoy leased Olompali, and started a hippie commune there called The Chosen Family.[7] By February 1969 the Burdell Mansion had been destroyed by an electrical fire, a fatal car wreck had been caused by the commune's loose animal, narcotics raids had been conducted by authorities, and Don McCoy had been placed in a mental ward.[8] Two small children then drowned on the commune, after which the residents were evicted by their Jesuit landlords.[9] Finally, in 1977, the State of California purchased the land and turned it into the state park.[4][5]
Location
Olompali State Historic Park is located at 8901 Redwood Highway, State Highway 101 (P.M. 24.8), 3.5 miles (5.6km) north of Novato. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Rancho Olompali.[1] Ynitia's adobe house is registered as California Historical Landmark #210.[2]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Olompali State Historic Park, Website 2008.
↑ Mason, Jack; Park, Helen Van Cleave (1971). Early Marin. Petaluma, Calif.: House of Printing. OCLC324024.
↑ Fernandez, E. R., & Parkman, E. B. (2011). The Commune Era of Olompali: Challenging Our Assumptions of the Hippie Lifestyle. Society for California Archaeology Proceedings, 25, 1.
Shumway, Burgess M. (1988). California Ranchos: Patented Private Land Grants Listed by County. San Bernardino, Calif.: The Borgo Press. ISBN0-89370-935-2.
Novato is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225.
Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point and eastward to Sonoma Creek. Coast Miwok included the Bodega Bay Miwok, or Olamentko (Olamentke), from authenticated Miwok villages around Bodega Bay, the Marin Miwok, or Hookooeko (Huukuiko), and Southern Sonoma Miwok, or Lekahtewutko (Lekatuit).
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting 82,116 acres (33,231 ha) of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United States Army. GGNRA is managed by the National Park Service and is the most visited unit of the National Park system in the United States, with more than 15 million visitors a year. It is also one of the largest urban parks in the world, with a size two-and-a-half times that of the consolidated city and county of San Francisco.
Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano was a brigadier general of the Mexican Army, adjutant-general of the same, governor, commandant-general and inspector of the department of Las Californias, then within Mexico. Micheltorena was the last non-Californian Mexican governor before Californian native son Pío Pico took office.
Rancho Petaluma Adobe is a historic ranch house in Sonoma County, California. It was built from adobe bricks in 1836 by order of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. It was the largest privately owned adobe structure built in California and is the largest example of the Monterey Colonial style of architecture in the United States. A section of the former ranch has been preserved by the Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park and it is both a California Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. The Rancho Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park is located on Adobe Road on the east side of the present-day town of Petaluma, California.
Camilo Ynitia was born in 1803, in Marin County, southern Marin, of the Huiman tribe near Sausalito. They likely traveled up to Olompali, where his father had built an adobe brick home. Camilo was a notable leader of the Coast Miwok, a Native American people. Camilo was known as the last Hoipu (headman) of the Miwok community living at Olompali and the Coast Miwoks of the Southern Marin Band. Camilo was also the only Native American on the northern frontier of Alta California to secure and keep a large Mexican-era land grant: In 1843 Governor Manuel Micheltorena of Alta California deeded him the Rancho Olompali, a large tract of land that is between present-day Novato and Petaluma, California. A part of this land now comprises the Olompali State Historic Park.
Rancho San Pascual also known as Rancho el Rincón de San Pascual was a 14,403-acre (58.29 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given to Juan Marine in 1834 by José Figueroa. Rancho San Pascual land now includes the cities of Pasadena, South Pasadena, and portions of San Marino, and the unincorporated communities of Altadena and San Pasqual.
Nicasio Creek is an 11.9-mile-long (19.2 km) stream in Marin County, California, United States and is the primary tributary of Lagunitas Creek, which flows, in turn, into Tomales Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. The Nicasio Reservoir, formed in 1961 by Seeger Dam, is located on this stream.
Ignacio is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of downtown Novato, at an elevation of 30 feet.
The Battle of Olómpali was fought on June 24, 1846, in present-day Marin County, California. Alto Californio militia muskets could not shoot as far as the rifles used by some American Bear Flaggers. It was the only battle of the Bear Flag Revolt. The site is now a part of the Olompali State Historic Park.
Novato Creek is a stream in eastern Marin County, California, United States. It originates in highlands between Red Hill and Mount Burdell above the city of Novato, California, and flows 17 miles (27 km) before emptying into San Pablo Bay south of Petaluma Point.
Rancho Olómpali was a 8,877-acre (35.92 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Marin County, California given in 1834 by governor Manuel Micheltorena to Camilo Ynitia, son of a Coast Miwok chief. The name Olómpali comes from the Coast Miwok language and likely means southern village or southern people. The land grant is between present-day Novato and Petaluma. A part of this land now comprises the Olompali State Historic Park.
Rancho Nicasio was a Mexican land grant of 56,807 acres (230 km2) granted to the Coast Miwok indigenous people in 1835, located in the present-day Marin County, California, a tract of land that stretched from San Geronimo to Tomales Bay. Today, Nicasio, California is at the heart of this location.
Olompali is a former Native American settlement in Marin County, California. It was located 5 miles (8 km) south of Petaluma.
Rancho Petaluma was a 66,622-acre (269.61 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Sonoma County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. Rancho Petaluma stretched from Petaluma River on the west over the hills and down to Sonoma Creek on the east, including all land that lay between these two waterways from the edge of San Francisco Bay to approximately the present site of Glen Ellen. The rancho included present-day Petaluma and Lakeville.
Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper was a 19th-century pioneer of California, who held British, Mexican, and finally American citizenship. Raised in Massachusetts in a maritime family, he came to the Mexican territory of Alta California as master of the ship Rover, and was a pioneer of Monterey, California, when it was the capital of the territory. He converted to Catholicism, became a Mexican citizen, married the daughter of the Mexican territorial governor, and acquired extensive land holdings in the area prior to the Mexican–American War.
Rancho Sanel was a 17,754-acre (71.85 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Mendocino County, California, given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Fernando Feliz. The grant extended along the Russian River and encompassed present-day Hopland. It is named after a village of the Pomo people near Hopland; the name means sweat-house in the Pomo language. Neither Spanish nor Mexican influence extended into Mendocino County beyond establishing two ranchos in southern Mendocino County: Rancho Sanel in the Sanel Valley in 1844 and Rancho Yokaya in the Ukiah Valley in 1845.
Rancho San Luis Gonzaga was a 48,821-acre (197.57 km2) Mexican land grant in the Diablo Range, in present-day Santa Clara County and Merced County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Juan Carlos Pacheco and José Maria Mejía. The grant was bounded by Francisco Pérez Pachecos Rancho Ausaymas y San Felipe on the west, the San Joaquin River and San Joaquin Valley on the east, and Los Baños Creek on the south.
Rancho Cañada de Herrera was a 6,658-acre (26.94 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Marin County, California given in 1839 by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to Domingo Sais. The grant encompassed present day Fairfax, Sleepy Hollow and a part of San Anselmo.
Rancho Cañada de los Osos y Pecho y Islay was a 32,431-acre (131.24 km2) Mexican land grant in Los Osos Valley and the southern Estero Bay headlands, in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California.
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