| Twin Sisters | |
|---|---|
 Twin Sisters as seen from Suisun Valley | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,259 ft (689 m) NGVD 29 [1] |
| Coordinates | 38°18′24″N122°10′16″W / 38.3065802°N 122.1710817°W Coordinates: 38°18′24″N122°10′16″W / 38.3065802°N 122.1710817°W [2] |
| Geography | |
  Twin Sisters | |
| Location | Napa / Solano counties, California, U.S. |
| Topo map | USGS Mount George |
Twin Sisters are the twin summits of the highest peak in the Howell Mountains of Solano and Napa Counties, California.
The peak straddles a ridge separating the Suisun Valley wine region in Solano County on the east side from the Napa Valley wine region on the west side, and is a prominent landmark visible from most points in Suisun Valley. The north summit at an elevation of 2,259 feet (689 m) is the tallest of the two, and the lower south summit rises to an elevation of 2,177 feet (664 m). It is the second highest peak in Solano County, Mount Vaca being the highest.
The origin of the name Twin sisters is unknown. However, the name was evidently well established when Munro-Fraser (1879) wrote his History of Solano County. [3]
The lower (south) summit of Twin Sisters is the site of a pre World War II crash on 24 October 1941 of an Army Air Corps B-18A Bolo bomber that killed all five crew members during a relatively short flight from Hamilton Field military air base to nearby McClellan Field. The south summit is also the highest privately owned peak in the San Francisco Bay Area, which led in 2003 to the building of a controversial house, the "house above the morning clouds", very close to the summit crash site by Cigarettes Cheaper! entrepreneur John Roscoe. This led to subsequent calls for county ordinances to prevent future ridge-top building. Roscoe reportedly spent $34 million buying the property and building the house, then put it up for sale in 2005 for $19 million. Following his felony conviction for fraud in 2011, the house was listed for $4.9 million, and it finally sold in 2012 for $3.4 million. This house burned to the ground on Tuesday, 10 Oct 2017 when the Atlas Fire burned over 51,000 acres in the northern California wine country over several days in early October 2017. What little wreckage of the B-18A bomber remains is located only 100 feet (30 m) from the driveway leading to the charred ruins of this house. [4] [5] [6] [7]
Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately 40 miles (64 km) from the city center of each city, approximately 40 miles (64 km) from the city center of Oakland, less than 19 miles (31 km) from Napa Valley, 16 miles (26 km) from the Carquinez Bridge, and 14 miles (23 km) from the Benicia Bridge. Fairfield was founded in 1856 by clippership captain Robert H. Waterman, and named after his former hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut.
Napa County is a county north of San Pablo Bay in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,019. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county's territory were given to Lake County in 1861.
Solano County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield.
Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major tourist destination in California, known for its wineries, restaurants, and arts culture.
Wine Country is the region of California, in the northern San Francisco Bay Area, known worldwide as a premier wine-growing region. The region is famed for its wineries, its cuisine, Michelin star restaurants, boutique hotels, luxury resorts, historic architecture, and culture. Viticulture and wine-making have been practiced in the region since the Spanish missionaries from Mission San Francisco Solano established the first vineyards in 1812.
The North Bay is a subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States. The largest city is Santa Rosa, which is the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area. It is the location of the Napa and Sonoma wine regions, and is the least populous and least urbanized part of the Bay Area. It consists of Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir in the Vaca Mountains was formed following the construction of the Monticello Dam on Putah Creek in the 1950s. Since the early 1960s, this reservoir has provided water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The California Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated in 1865 at San Francisco, California as the California Pacific Rail Road Company. It was renamed the California Pacific Railroad Extension Company in the spring of 1869, then renamed the California Pacific Railroad later that same year. Its main railroad from Vallejo to Sacramento was completed six months prior to the May 1869 golden spike ceremony of the Central Pacific/Union Pacific Transcontinental Railway.
The Napa Valley Wine Train is a privately operated excursion train that runs between Napa and St. Helena, California. Much of the rail line parallels State Route 29 after leaving the City of Napa and passes the towns of Yountville, Rutherford and Oakville. The route passes by many the region's vineyards and wineries located in Napa County.
Sonoma Creek is a 33.4-mile-long (53.8 km) stream in northern California. It is one of two principal drainages of southern Sonoma County, California, with headwaters rising in the rugged hills of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and discharging to San Pablo Bay, the northern arm of San Francisco Bay. The watershed drained by Sonoma Creek is roughly equivalent to the wine region of Sonoma Valley, an area of about 170 square miles (440 km2). The State of California has designated the Sonoma Creek watershed as a “Critical Coastal Water Resource”. To the east of this generally rectangular watershed is the Napa River watershed, and to the west are the Petaluma River and Tolay Creek watersheds.
The North Bay Aqueduct (NBA) is part of the California State Water Project that was built in two phases, Phase I (1967-168) and Phase II (1985-1988). The aqueduct is 27.4 miles (44.1 km) long all in pipelines and serves Napa and Solano counties, California. The aqueduct provides water to about 500,000 residents in Solano and Napa.
Mount Vaca is a mountain in Napa and Solano counties of Northern California. It is both the highest point in the Vaca Mountains and in Solano County. It is also one of several peaks in the San Francisco Bay Area that receive winter snow.
Mount Saint Helena is a peak in the Mayacamas Mountains with flanks in Napa, Sonoma, and Lake counties of California. Composed of uplifted 2.4-million-year-old volcanic rocks from the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, it is one of the few mountains in the San Francisco Bay Area to receive any snowfall during the winter.
The Suisun Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Solano County, California, located just east of the Napa Valley wine region in the Coast Range. It was established as a wine appellation on 27 December 1982, making it among the first AVAs of California, Napa Valley being the first.
This article lists the railroads and a timeline of railroad history in Solano County, California.
The Vaca Mountains are a mountain range in Napa and Solano Counties, California that is one of the California Coast Ranges. They represent the easternmost of the Inner Coast Ranges in north−central California, and divide the Suisun Valley on their west, from the Sacramento Valley on their east.
Monticello was a town in Napa County, California. The site of the settlement is completely covered by Lake Berryessa.
The Howell Mountains, which are also known as the Mt. George Range, are one of the California Coast Ranges. They divide the Suisun Valley on the east side, from Napa Valley on the west. Historically the southern part of the range has been referred to as both the Sierra de Suscol and as the Sierra de Napa.
Mankas Corner is an unincorporated community in the Suisun Valley, an American Viticulture Area (AVA) in Solano County, California.
The Atlas Fire was a 2017 wildfire burning in Napa County, California north of the city of Napa, near Napa Soda Springs. It was one of fourteen large fires simultaneously burning in eight Northern California counties, in what was called the "Northern California firestorm". Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency.